Tour operator the C. I. Travel Group has announced that it will be offering free flights to island charities to help with their fundraising efforts.

The flights will be offered by the group’s FlyDirect brand to nine charities which were selected throughout January.

C. I. Travel Group receicing over 500 nominations from different charities vying for their flight offer.

FlyDirect provides direct flights and holidays from Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man to the Mediterranean and Algarve, while the C. I. Travel Group has operated for over 40 years and is a member of ABTA (The Association of British Travel Agents).

FlyDirect clients in each of the three Crown Dependencies were asked to nominate a local charity that they believed would benefit from receiving a donation of flight tickets.

Representatives of the C. I. Travel Group’s employees then met to select the three charities in each island that they felt most deserved to receive the donated flights.

The three charities selected in the Isle of Man were Isle Listen, Craig’s Heartstrong Foundation and The Children’s Centre.

A spokesperson from the C. I. Travel Group said: ‘Each chosen charity will receive a pair of flight tickets that can be used as prizes for an organised event or in other fund-raising activities.

‘In total. the value of the donated flights is in the region of £10,000.

‘The charities selected have already been contacted and are busy planning how they will use the prizes in their fundraising programmes.’

Commenting on the initiative, C. I. Travel Group managing director Robert Mackenzie said: ‘The whole team are delighted to have received so many nominations for charities in the three Crown Dependencies.

‘The task of selecting just three charities in each island from the nominations we received was a challenging task, but we believe those selected are enormously worthy of our support.’