Go's launch of eight destinations from Bristol is very welcome news for the people of south-west England and Wales. More than 1,000 tickets were bought within hours of the flights going on sale last Tuesday.

While there are summer and winter sun charter flights from Bristol and Exeter, there has been little choice when it comes to scheduled flights. Currently the 4.9 million people within Bristol Airport's catchment area can fly to cities such as Paris, Amsterdam and Dublin on scheduled airlines but have not been able to fly to summer sun destinations such as Palma or Malaga.

The new routes open up the possibility of short breaks and flexible duration, summer sun holidays.

Previously people wanting to go on short breaks to places such as Barcelona andRome had to drive up the M4 motorway to Gatwick or Heathrow and fork out for airport parking and overnight hotels.

To promote Go's new destinations from Bristol, the airline is increasing the discount for internet bookings from £2 to £5 per return fare for an indefinite period. The promotion is also available for the same eight cities from London Stansted.

The new routes will begin in phases. First to launch, on 22 May, will be Nice (£65 to a maximum of £280 return including taxes), Faro (£95-£310) and Palma (£85-£300). From 23 May two more routes will be added, to Alicante (£95-£300) and Malaga (£85-£325). Flights to Ibiza (£95-£275) will start on 15 June. And on 15 July Barcelona (£65-£270) and Rome (£85-£280) join the list.