SOUTHAMPTON airline Flybe has revealed that it is launching new flights to Cherbourg.

The announcement comes just days after ferry company P&O dropped the bombshell news that it was axing all its cross Channel ferry links to France form Portsmouth.

The ferry giant blamed competition from low cost airlines and the Channel Tunnel for the cuts.

Just two days later Flybe has revealed that flights to the French port will take off daily from Southampton on March 23 next year.

They are also introducing flights from the city to Brest.

On Tuesday, shipping giant P&O announced that about 1,200 staff would lose their jobs after four ferry routes, including three Portsmouth crossings, were being axed due to strong competition from low-cost airlines like Flybe.

Company bosses are hoping the restructuring, which has angered unions, will be largely in place by the middle of next year.

But sales and marketing director for Flybe, Mike Rutter, said the airline is simply responding to public demand.

He said: "Demand from the south-west for routes to France has always been high, we are simply responding to that demand with greater choice than ever before for the consumer.

''We have aggressively increased our operations throughout the year, focusing on marrying convenient regional travel with great value and choice."

Fares for the 35 minute flight to Cherbourg will start from £29 one-way and £34 to Brest. They can already be booked on the airline's website www.flybe.com.

This is part of the reason P&O say they have had to pull the plug on four major services of their own, including the Portsmouth-Cherbourg, Portsmouth-Caen and Portsmouth-Le Havre routes, as well as Rosslare-Cherbourg.

Overall, company ships will be cut back from 31 to 23, expecting to make a saving of a whopping £55million a year.

The number of ships operating from Portsmouth will be reduced from six to one.

P&O company spokesman, Brian Rees, said: "This is one in a long list of factors that has affected us. Flybe is a classic which nibbles away at our profits.

"All the extra capacity that comes into the ferry industry means that the prices we can charge have dropped away. We could crash our fares to get a bit more traffic but the amount of extra business wouldn't compensate for that.

He added: "What we announced on Tuesday has not just been a dent in terms of losing colleagues but also in terms of the pride it took to make a good service as well. Its been a bitter pill to swallow."

Travel agents think the new services will prove helpful for holidaymakers.

A spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents said: "It is good news that someone is stepping into the breach, not just for the holidaymaker but for all those who have second homes in northern France."