Hard-pressed tour operators are selling off festive ski breaks at rock-bottom prices in a desperate bid to whip up demand. With 12 days until Christmas, the offers up for grabs include a week in a three-star hotel in Kitzbühel for £295pp, including flights — down from £785 — with Ifyouski.com (0844 371 7733), and £400 off a New Year break in La Plagne — now just £549pp with Ski Solutions (020 7471 7700, www.skisolutions.com).

Igluski (020 8544 7128, igluski.com) has cut 50% off selected chalets — Christmas week in the catered Chalet Koala, in Les Arcs, is now £444pp.

Inghams (020 8780 4444, inghams.co.uk) has a week in Residence Le Ruitor and Thuria Apartments, also in Les Arcs, for £179pp.

It’s not just the tour operators who are slashing prices. Extortionate in-resort living costs hurt British skiers badly last year. This winter, French resorts have seen hotel bookings fall by 9% on 2008 and chalet capacity cut by as much as 50%.

Costs while you’re on the mountain have fallen, too, helped by a cut in Vat on food in France from 19.6% to 5.5%. Last week, the price of a three-course lunch in a mountain restaurant in Val d’Isère averaged just £10, down from £27 last year; and in the Three Valleys, resorts such as Courchevel, Méribel and Val Thorens are offering cut-price accommodation and ski passes across the season, with prices for a week in an apartment for four people in February, with a ski pass, as low as £210pp, excluding flights.

Meanwhile TUI, which owns Crystal, First Choice and Thomson, is offering free ski passes in Verbier and two passes for the price of one for all chalet bookings in Tignes, Val d’Isère and Zermatt, as well as in selected hotels in Courchevel, Grindelwald and Zermatt.

As the season got under way last week, winter arrived with a vengeance, with temperatures predicted to drop as low as -20C by the middle of this week. The big freeze comes as a blessing after November’s mild spell, allowing even the lowest resorts to build a decent base for the season using snow cannons.

Easyjet has announced that it will cease flying from East Midlands airport from January 5. Passengers booked to travel after that date will be contacted next week and offered either a free transfer to another EasyJet flight, a free transfer to a BMI Baby flight or a full refund. After a dispute with airport management, the no-frills carrier has also announced a 20% cutback in flights from Luton, ending flights to Athens, Cagliari and Vienna, and reducing frequencies on several other routes.

Meanwhile, Coventry airport has ceased operations after its owners were ordered by the High Court to wind up the company due to unpaid taxes. Passenger flights from the airport ceased in 2008, and since then the airport has operated as a cargo terminal.