Within just days of commencing new services out of Southampton, FlyBE., the low fares airline for the regions, has announced even more new routes, positioning it ahead of BA to become the airport’s biggest carrier.

FlyBE. announced today (08 April 2003) that it is further expanding its Southampton hub with new daily flights to Alicante in Spain and Bergerac in France. The airline is also adding the Balearic island of Ibiza to its route network with a busy weekend schedule.

The new flights, with fares starting from just £29 (plus taxes and charges), will commence on June 27 and are in addition to Belfast City, Dublin, Jersey, Geneva and Milan Bergamo, which started last week. Flights to Murcia, Malaga and Toulouse take off on May 19, which together with the airline’s existing Guernsey services, will total 12 FlyBE. routes from Southampton this summer.

“Our positioning as Southampton’s low fares airline has been met with phenomenal response,” said FlyBE.’s General Manager, Market Development, Ian Taylor. “Passengers are asking us why no-one has offered these services before. This reaction, quantified by almost 150,000 bookings taken so far this year, has encouraged us to realise our plans to expand the Southampton network earlier than first envisaged.”

FlyBE. expects to carry 900,000 passengers in its first year of operation from the central southern airport, enabling Southampton’s desire to surpass the one million-passenger mark sooner than anticipated.

David Cumming, Managing Director of BAA-owned Southampton Airport, commented: “This is a great Easter present for travellers in the region. FlyBE. has firmly established its base here at Southampton Airport and has expanded its route network to 12 destinations. This will be the first time that travellers will be able to benefit from scheduled services to the holiday hot spots of Ibiza and Alicante plus direct services to the French region of Dordogne with daily flights to Bergerac.”

Speaking at the launch event on 31 March, FlyBE. Managing Director, Jim French, said that FlyBE. is looking to deliver more than 20 routes from Southampton over the next two years. The plan is part of the airline’s wider strategy to rebalance its network to offer a 50/50 split with leisure and business routes. “There was no low fare airline serving the central southern UK region with a catchment area embracing the south coast, south west, Thames Valley and south west London – this gave us the opportunity to create a winning formula,” said French. “We are delighted at how the whole region has welcomed what we are doing,” he added.

FlyBE. is Europe’s largest independent regional airline with principal operating bases at Southampton, Belfast City, Birmingham and the Channel Islands. More than three million passengers will travel with FlyBE. this year.