No routes have been revealed, but given the airline’s existing route structure, Amsterdam, Paris and either Toulouse or Bordeaux look like good bets.BristolNew destination: Venice (Go).CardiffNew destinations: Alicante, Belfast, Edinburgh, Faro, Glasgow, Jersey, Malaga (all Bmibaby).East MidlandsNew destinations: Alicante (Bmibaby); Barcelona (Go); Geneva (Bmibaby and easyJet); Malaga (Bmibaby); Milan Bergamo (Bmibaby); Venice (Go). In addition, BMI flights to Amsterdam, Brussels, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Jersey and Paris have been transferred to Bmibaby. New Bmibaby routes due to start in December include Cork, Toulouse and Salzburg.EdinburghNew destination: Cardiff (Bmibaby).GlasgowNew destination: Cardiff (Bmibaby).LutonNew destinations: Cologne (Hapag-Lloyd Express, from 11 December); Milan Bergamo (Ryanair, from 6 February).NewcastleNew destinations: easyJet has announced it will establish a base at the city’s airport in April, but has not revealed any destinations. Choose three from Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast, Bristol, Geneva, Nice and Palma.StanstedNew destinations: Cologne (Germanwings); Gerona (Ryanair, from 20 February); Hamburg (Air Berlin); Hanover (Air Berlin from 22 November); Strasbourg (Ryanair)..

French West Africa It started as exploration and ended as colonisation. French traders landed on the West African coast during the late 15th century, along with, to a lesser extent, explorers and missionaries. The French were particularly interested in exploiting the continent’s raw materials, such as gum arabic and groundnuts, and later its people, through the slave trade. Millions of Africans were forcibly removed from their homeland between the 16th and mid-19th century, to be sold as slaves in the Americas. In 1880, around 90 per cent of Africa was ruled by Africans; 20 years later, European powers had seized most of the continent, in what is now known as the Scramble for Africa.

France occupied a huge expanse of North and West Africa, establishing a centralised form of colonial rule, with a governor based in Senegal and a minister of colonies in Paris. However, after countless French West Africans fought or served as porters with the Allies in both World Wars, the pan-African call for self-rule became louder. Most West African countries were restored to independence by 1960.Today, French West Africa comprises Benin (formerly Dahomey), Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta), C?d’Ivoire, Guinea (formerly French Guinea), Mali (formerly French Sudan), Mauritania, Niger and Senegal. Two further countries, Togo and Cameroon, were taken from the Germans by the Allies after the First World War, and put under joint French and British mandates. French is Togo’s official language; Cameroon has two official languages, English and French, although French dominates. It will help, although English is spoken in parts, especially in countries with anglophone neighbours, such as Togo, Niger and Benin. As inhabitants of one of the most linguistically complex parts of the world, West Africans will often be fluent in several languages.

The services of a guide/interpreter are helpful in remoter areas, as some countries have dozens of regional languages. One aspect common to all countries is the generous hospitality, which tends to overcome language barriers. French-style caf?can be found in major towns, although meals served in French restaurants will be more expensive than local food. The first French settlement in Africa was St Louis, a trading port established in 1659 in what is now Senegal.