Madeira and Porto Santo Flight and Travel Information
We are happy to book any available flight that suits your particular requirements, rather than restricting our holidays to certain flights on specific days. Supplements will apply to cover the differential in cost between your chosen flight option and the standard option upon which our brochure prices are based.
As most airlines now operate "fluid pricing" policies with fares rising and falling in line with supply and demand, flight supplements will vary depending on your chosen departure date, departure airport and how far in advance you book. As a general rule, supplements tend to be highest for weekend flights, especially for school holiday departures such as Christmas, Easter and Half Term, when demand invariably outstrips supply. We will provide a definite quote for your chosen departure date at the time of booking, and advise you of any charges that certain airlines apply for options such as checked-in baggage or inflight meals.
We will quote you the latest available flight times when you make your booking and advise you of any schedule changes that may occur subsequently, but please be aware that such changes are outside our control, and only constitute as a "major change" under the terms of our booking conditions if the departure time of your outbound flight changes by 12 hours or more from the timings confirmed on your original confirmation invoice.
Unless stated otherwise, check-in time for all flights is two hours prior to the confirmed departure time on your flight tickets, which you will receive approximately two weeks in advance of travel. The flight time from the UK to Madeira is approximately 3 hours and 45 minutes, and the islands are in the same time zone as the UK so there is no time difference.
Flights to Madeira
Direct flights to Funchal Airport operate throughout the year from Gatwick, Stansted, Bristol, Exeter, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow airports. During the winter season (November to April), there are also flights from Bournemouth, whilst departures from Luton, Newcastle and Edinburgh operate during the summer season. Most regional departures are on Mondays only, but there are daily departures from Gatwick, and two or three flights a week from Stansted, Manchester and Bristol.We can also arrange scheduled flights from Heathrow or Gatwick via Lisbon with TAP Air Portugal. Our prices are based on typical airfares for Monday flights from London Gatwick, other flight options will attract supplements, typically in the region of £10 - 100.
Flights to Porto Santo
There are currently no direct flights from the UK to Porto Santo and only a few weekly flights between Lisbon and the island, so visitors to Porto Santo generally travel via Madeira.The flight time from Funchal to Porto Santo is only 20 minutes, but at the time of going to print, the frequency of flights between the two islands has been cut to three flights per day, so depending on the schedule of your international flights, you may have something of a wait for your onward connection, or even require an overnight stay on Madeira at the start or end of your holiday.We will advise you on suitable connections and quote for any necessary overnight stops at the time of booking. In the unlikely event that flight delays or adverse weather conditions should cause you to miss your onward connection, we will do our best to rebook you on the next available flight and will arrange overnight accommodation if necessary.
Island Combinations
As well as arranging one or two week holidays staying at a single location, we can arrange fly-drive itineraries visiting several hotels on Madeira, twin-centre holidays combining Madeira with Porto Santo, and other tailor-made arrangements such a short breaks or unusual durations. Naturally, we cannot list prices for every possible combination, so please call us to discuss your planned itinerary, and we will work out an individual quote covering all the different elements, including any inter-island flights.