NEW fights to Manchester have been launched at Southampton Airport.

Eastern Airways has added a further service to Manchester from Southampton Airport.

The additional Manchester flight will commence from August 3, departing at 7.15am, adding extra choice and day trip potential for passengers, alongside its 4pm service.

It comes after the re-commencement of Eastern Airways’ Southampton-Leeds service, which returned to the Southampton Airport schedule this week and compliments the already-running services to Belfast City and Newcastle.

Southampton Airport operations director, Steve Szalay, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be extending our partnership with Eastern Airlines and look forward to developing more services into the future as demand increases and more people return to flying.”

Roger Hage, general manager of Eastern Airways, added: “As passenger demand returns slowly to the key domestic services from Southampton, we are pleased to be adding a second daily Manchester service to allow a day-return option.

“From August 3, we will offer a 7.15am departure to complement the late afternoon Manchester weekday departure, which gives passengers a full day in the north-west, connections to many onward Manchester destinations or an opportunity to get away for a few days. As demand increases we will continue to add frequency and capacity to the service.”