Southampton-to-Schiphol KLM flights to start

KLM will fly twice daily from Southampton to Schiphol airport in The Netherlands

Southampton Airport is taking on on major London airports with the launch of KLM flights to Amsterdam.

The route to Dutch airport Schiphol offers onward global destinations, meaning England passengers need not fly via Heathrow or Gatwick.

KLM will compete with Flybe on the route, which means there will be at least five flights a day to Schiphol.

Southampton airport said this would increase its amount of passengers to about two million a year.

The regional airport's managing director Dave Lees said: "This is very important news for Hampshire.

"It means that people can use Southampton Airport to get anywhere in the world in a quick and easy way with KLM via Amsterdam."

KLM is the fourth airline to sign up with Southampton Airport this year and will start its flights in the summer.

Paul Clifton, BBC South transport correspondent

Southampton airport is on a roll. Four new airlines signing up in one year is unprecedented.

Flybe is withdrawing its jet aircraft and trimming part of its European route network at Southampton. KLM's arrival, on top of a similar announcement on Monday from Aer Lingus, will help offset that.

Amsterdam is a key destination because of its long-haul connections, especially to the Far East.

This is all about providing an alternative to the congested London airports, which are close to capacity.

While the arguments rage about where a new runway should be built, regional airports are looking to bypass the problem by feeding passengers to other hubs like Amsterdam or Paris.

Southampton is part of five new scheduled KLM flights in Europe.

KLM president Pieter Elbers said he was "proud" to give European travellers more options to explore the world.