MAJOR expansion by low-cost airline flybe. has transformed Southampton Airport into a leading UK hub for no-frills flights set to attract hundreds of thousands of passengers.

Within just days of starting new services out of the city, flybe. has added even more destinations to its growing list of Southampton services.

As reported in later editions of yesterday's Daily Echo, from Friday, June 27 flybe. will also be taking off daily from Southampton for Alicante in Spain and Bergerac, France, while the holiday island of Ibiza is to be added to its route network with a busy weekend schedule.

Services to Belfast City, Dublin, Jersey, Geneva and Milan Bergamo, started last week. Flights to Murcia and Malaga in Spain and Toulouse, France are due to start operating on May 19, which together with the airline's existing Guernsey services, will total 12 flybe. routes from Southampton this summer.

Later in the year flybe. is also hopeful of adding Barcelona, Spain and Nice to its Southampton operation.

This means flybe. - Europe's largest independent regional airline - has overtaken British Airways as Southampton Airport's biggest carrier. Already more than 150,000 bookings have been taken by the airline so far this year and flybe. confidently expects to carry 900,000 passengers in the first 12 months of the Southampton services.

The airline's managing director, Jim French, said that flybe. is looking to deliver more than 20 routes from Southampton over the next two years.

"There was no low fare airline serving the central southern UK region - this gave us the opportunity to create a winning formula," he said. "We are delighted at how the whole region has welcomed what we are doing.''