FLYBE, Southampton Airport's biggest airline, has launched a staunch defence of its aircraft after being hit by safety fears for the second time in a week.

SAS, the Scandinavian airline, has said it is permanently grounding its 27-strong fleet of Bombardier Q400 turboprop planes after the third crash landing in a month caused by faulty landing gear.

Flybe is the world's biggest operator of Q400s, with a current fleet of 33, which is due to climb to 62 once orders are fulfilled.

The aircraft is a familiar sight in the skies above Southampton, where Flybe has always highlighted its quieter engines and low fuel emissions to locals living under the flight path. The craft carries hundreds of thousands of travellers from Southampton every year without incident.

However, Mats Jansson, SAS chief executive, said confidence in the plane had diminished considerably "and our customers are becoming increasingly doubtful about flying in this type of aircraft."

The scare comes after some Flybe air crew last week refused to fly on the company's ageing fleet of BAE 146 planes.

That arose because of concerns over possible engine oil contamination of the air inside the cabin on a flight from Southampton. The flight to Belfast saw two stewardesses collapse after being overcome by fumes and all seven crew members were taken to hospital on landing.

While the BAE 146 should be phased out by February next year, the scare over the Q400 is more serious for the Exeter based company, which sees the plane as the mainstay of its future fleet.

As a result, bosses have been investing heavily in the aircraft, spending around £400,000 on a new order earlier this year. Bombardier, a Canadian aircraft maker, insisted it was still safe to fly despite confirming a Q400 on an SAS flight from Bergen in Norway to Copenhagen, the Danish capital, was involved in an incident last Saturday.

The 70-seater plane, carrying 44 passengers, crash-landed at Copenhagen airport when its main right-hand landing gear "failed to fully extend for landing", according to Bombardier. None of the passengers were injured.

It was the third such incident in two months, and came days after an investigation into the first two incidents had given the plane the all clear.

Flybe said it would wait and see if investigations into the latest incident revealed issues with SAS' procedures.

A statement said: "Aviation has the best safety record of any form of public transport in the world and is backed by the strictest of regulatory regimes both nationally and internationally. This has underpinned this track record of safety.

"Flybe has complete confidence in the Q400 and in the process of regulatory oversight, which has made aviation the safest form of public transport.

"Flybe has Europe's largest regional aircraft engineering facilities, employing 700 aircraft engineers who help deliver Flybe's commitment to service excellence.

"Since entering service in February 2000 the Q400 has proven itself as a reliable and safe aircraft with more than 20 global operators and 1.2 million take off and landing cycles.

"Flybe awaits with interest the publication of independent reports into the SAS short haul fleet and looks forward to learning of any issues with operating procedures with the aircraft or with SAS's maintenance procedures."

Max Kingsley Jones, deputy editor of industry bible Flight International magazine, said: "SAS has a confidence problem and that's having an impact on the perception of the aircraft.

"At this stage it doesn't have any impact on Flybe. I don't think it will until, when and if, it happens to a Flybe aeroplane or it has an airworthiness directive.

"The SAS fleet was the launch fleet. They have a big fleet and an old fleet and they operate in extreme conditions and their problem might be something linked to their environment.

"The thing is that there are Q400 operators across the world and until we hear more from the investigation this is a problem confined to Scandinavia."