Southampton Airport: BA launches summer European flights

BA plans to fly to destinations in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, France and Germany

British Airways has announced plans for flights from Southampton to destinations in six European countries.

The carrier's BA CityFlyer subsidiary, will fly to holiday destinations including Ibiza, Mykonos and Malaga in Summer 2021.

Southampton Airport lost 90% of its flights when airline Flybe collapsed earlier this year.

The airport, which has submitted proposals to extend its runway, said it was "fantastic news".

BA CityFlyer announced it would operate up to 17 flights each weekend to locations in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, France and Germany between 1 May and 31 October.

There will also be a service to Edinburgh and the additional services will use BA CityFlyer's existing fleet of Embraer 190 aircraft.

The airport's operations director Steve Szalay, said: "The announcement from British Airways is fantastic news for Southampton Airport and the region during what has been the most challenging of years."

The airport wants to extend the runway by 164m (538ft) to increase the number of flights and allow the use of larger planes.

Mr Szalay previously said the airport's future would be in doubt if it was not allowed to extend the runway to accommodate planes such as the Airbus 320 and Boeing 737.

Earlier this week Eastleigh Borough Council announced its planning decision on the proposals has been postponed until next year at the request of the airport.

The plans have been opposed by local campaigners as well as Southampton City Council on the grounds of noise and climate change issues.

Portsmouth City Council has also voted not to support the runway extension plans over environmental concerns, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Analysis

By Paul Clifton, BBC South transport correspondent

This is a huge deal for this beleaguered south coast airport.

And it isn't just cherry picking routes vacated when Flybe collapsed at the start of this year, which took away 90% of Southampton's passengers.

Direct flights to Berlin, Florence and Mykonos really are new. And a service to Edinburgh is head-to-head competition for existing flights.

The airport is desperately trying to convince the local council that it should be allowed to extend the runway to take larger, heavier, noisier planes for popular holiday routes to European destinations. The extra tarmac, it argues, is make-or-break for the airport's survival.

For Eastleigh Borough Council that is a tough call. It has declared a climate emergency and more polluting planes will not sit comfortably on the consciences of some councillors.

But here comes British Airways, selling flights to the summer sun on smaller aircraft that are not dependent on that council decision.