Flying to Australia is a 24 hour flight, delivering travellers at a unique and diverse destination of one of the most exciting and beautiful countries in the world. Its attractive cities give way to luxurious rainforests, lagoons, snow-topped mountains, desert and lush vineyards.

Best time of the year

Peak Season

The peak season in Australia is Christmas to the end of January as this is when children over there are on school holidays and the popular resorts are packed. June, July and August which are the winter months are the high season for the north of Australia, when visitors from Southern states travel to escape their colder winters.

Low Season

In the Northern states of Australia, the Kimberley, the Top End, North Queensland including Cairns, the summer months are October to March, which are characterised by humidity, heat and rain.

Between mid- April and mid- June, the weather can be quite cold in the southern Australian cities like Sydney and Melbourne, this is when airlines release discounted flights to Australia due to the drastic change in weather during that season. Up North, the wet season ends by mid-May and this can be a great time to visit.

Best websites

www.cheapflights.co.uk – are not a travel agency but can be known as a price comparison site, deals publisher, travel search engine or flights aggregator. The company is there to help find the best possible deal for their customers compared to other websites or a travel agency to ensure
their customers satisfaction.

www.netflights.com – Offers customers instant access to the best travel offers available for them. They are an easy to use site with flights being booked quickly and securely online.

www.ebookers.com – ebookers.com is a leading pan-European online travel agency specialising in worldwide travel offering a wide range of travel products including a choice of over 250 airlines to all their customers.

Best time to book

When flying to Australia you need to take into account that their peak holiday periods are August and Christmas, so January and September are the busiest months for bookings to Australia. The best time to book is July and November as Australia flights are always emptier and cheaper in comparison to other months.

Fly Qantas.

Qantas is the world’s most experienced airline, having flown continuously for over 89 years. Qantas was founded in the Queensland outback in 1920 and will celebrate their 90th birthday this year. Qantas began flight operations with joy rides and air taxi flights. During the Second World War, Qantas maintained vital air links, flew supply drops at treetop level in (Papua) New Guinea and established ‘Double Sunrise’ non-stop flights across the Indian Ocean with Catalina flying boats operating in radio silence.

Qantas Best Prices

Take a Two Week Walkabout with Qantas – Australia from £646*
Qantas has teamed up with Tourism Australia to let the UK know that you don’t need a long time to explore Australia. In just a Two Week Walkabout you’ll have a fantastic holiday, returning home feeling rejuvenated and revived. Getting to and around Australia is easy with Qantas offering 28 flights a week from the United Kingdom and an unrivalled network of over 50 Australia domestic destinations.
Experience Australia for yourself – fly return economy from London Heathrow to:
Perth £646*
Melbourne £671*
Sydney £685*
Cairns £757*
Offer ends 6 April 2010, unless sold out prior. Australia Flights From UK valid for travel from 16 April to 20 June 2010. Availability is limited.
To find out more or to book click here

* Prices based on payment at qantas.com. A surcharge of GBP15 per person applies to telephone bookings made through Qantas Airways.

New Melbourne flights in time for Christmas

If you are thinking about travelling to Melbourne, Australia for Christmas 2009 / New Year 2010  you should in general book as early as possible to get the cheapest airfares. Qatar Airways entry to the market should help keep prices down this year. Qatar Airways have announced they will be flying from London to Melbourne from the 5th December 2009 with a three times a week service until 29th December and then starting daily flights from the 31st December 2009 and continue through 2010. The flights depart from Heathrow and have  a short stop in Doha.

Book online at Qatar Airways for the lowest fares.

Air New Zealand who fly to New Zealand via Hong Kong have an interesting offer on for anyone that wants to visit both Australia and New Zealand. You can book a flight to Auckland, New Zealand for travel in 2010 and they will let you add on a return flight from Auckland to Australia (Choose between Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Cairns and Gold Coast) where you pay only the taxes and fuel supplement. To illustrate this they say the add on fare is only £54 but will vary with currency and fuel price fluctuations.

One of the nice things about flying with Air New Zealand is you can book an around the world itinerary and fly to Auckland from London via Hong Kong in one direction and via Los Angeles in the other direction.

Offer only available online at http://www.airnewzealand.co.uk/ until 05 October 2009. Valid for travel from 15 Apr 2010 to 15 Jun 2010.

Thanks to the credit crunch there are some great deals on flights from London to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane at the moment. Flying with Qantas you can book simple return flights or more complex itineraries for example London – Perth – Alice Springs – Darwin – London

You can fly Qantas to Australia from more UK airports than just Heathrow. Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle and Manchester flights can all be booked too. You’ll fly on a British Airways feeder flight to Heathrow and then transfer onto a Qantas flight to Melbourne or Sydney. If you want to fly to Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide you’ll normally transfer in Singapore or Hong Kong and for other destinations such as Hobart in Tasmania or Cairns in Northern Queensland you can change planes in Melbourne or Sydney.