Tracey GrayAxed flights from Norwich Airport are being reinstated for the winter months this year due to increased demand.Tracey Gray

Axed flights from Norwich Airport are being reinstated for the winter months this year due to increased demand.

Dozens of flight routes from the city have been cancelled in the past two years, but the Tenerife and Alicante routes have been reinstated after the airport received more than 500 specific requests for the two destinations within the last six months.

From November, holiday company Thomson will be operating Boeing 737-800s with 189 seats, flying direct from Norwich Airport to Tenerife and Alicante and to a new route, Sharm el Sheikh, in Egypt. The flights will operate every week for 26 weeks.

The new routes are a boost to the airport after a number of services were axed or reduced including direct flights to Paris and Guernsey by Flybe and to Barcelona and Palma by Spanish airline LTE. Flybe also axed flights to Alicante and Malaga in 2007.

In November last year Air France KLM reaffirmed the company's commitment to restoring the fourth daily flight from Norwich to Amsterdam, which was temporarily axed from October 28 following the recession and a seasonal fall in demand in the winter months.

Elliott Summers, the airport's managing director said: 'I am delighted to announce these new routes and would use it as a demonstration of our close working relationship with Thomson TUI.

'We have worked very hard with our business partners and listened to our customers in delivering three fantastic new routes to destinations which our clientele have been asking for.

'It is now down to the good people of Norfolk and beyond in our catchment area to support these routes and enjoy these new destinations. If they do, I am sure that even more success will follow.

'I would like to thank Thomson TUI for showing confidence in Norwich and would hope that the public will give these routes their full support.'

The full Winter 2010/11 season offered by Thomson from Norwich Airport includes flights to Tenerife and Alicante on Tuesdays from November 2, 2010 until April 19, 2011, and flights to Sharm el Sheikh on Wednesdays from November 3, 2010 until April 20, 2011.

This Saturday , Norwich Airport will be hosting a holiday and travel fair giving people the opportunity to meet and talk with the tour operators flying with Norwich Airport in 2010.

The fair will be running from 10am to 4pm with free parking for all visitors.

Everybody who visits the fair will be entered into a prize draw to win a seven-night holiday to Jersey and Guernsey for two, courtesy of Premier Holidays.

For more information on holidays flying from the airport, call 01603 428700, log on to www.travelnorwich.com, or visit Travel Norwich Airport at the Airport or Castle Mall.

Do you have a story for the Evening News? Call reporter Tracey Gray on 01603 772418 or email tracey.gray@archant.co.uk