Take to the slopes with new skiing destination from LBA (From Ilkley Gazette)

Take to the slopes with new skiing destination from LBA

11:00am Sunday 16th September 2012 in Local news By Jonathan Redhead, Ilkley/Otley Reporter

A host of new winter routes from Leeds Bradford Airport have been launched with the help of a champion skier.

Regional members of the Ski Club of Great Britain and guests took part in an evening with free-style skiing demon-strations and head-to-head challenges with British champion skier Chemmy Alcott at the SNO!zone in Castleford.

The Ski Festival event was hosted by Monarch Airlines, which will start operations from the airport with flights to Grenoble and Munich in December.

Both destinations are famed for their excellent links to ski resorts covering the French and Bavarian Alps.

Monarch Airlines managing director, Kevin George, said: “As Britain’s leading skier, we are proud to have Chemmy Alcott associated with Monarch as we launch our new scheduled ski routes for this winter from LBA.

“We hope Monarch’s Ski Festival will inspire both experienced and novice skiers in Yorkshire to take to the slopes.”

LBA’s commercial director, Tony Hallwood, said: “Munich and Grenoble are ideally situated for easy access to the Alps and a wide variety of premier ski resorts.

“As well as skiing and snowboarding, the apres-ski is also excellent, with great bars and restaurants to choose from. Both destinations will cater perfectly for skiers of all abilities.”

Visit monarch.co.uk for details.

Meanwhile, summer trading at Yeadon-based leisure airline Jet2.com has been encouraging, according to Philip Meeson, chairman of the parent Dart Group.

He said: “Our leisure airline business Jet2.com has achieved higher yields and load factors than summer 2011, despite continued expansion of the flying programme.”