Flybe will this Bank Holiday weekend start operating three brand new summer routes from Newquay Cornwall Airport namely a Saturday service to Belfast City and Newcastle Airports, and twice-weekly flights to Norwich on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

These three new routes increase Flybe’s summer schedule from Newquay to a total of seven key destinations that include its franchise partner, Loganair’s popular service to Glasgow.

Loganairhas added extra flights to its new Norwich/Isle of Man route following strong advance ticket sales ahead of the launch of the service this month.

The new route – East Anglia’s first ever direct link to the Isle of Man – will take to the skies on Saturday, 26 May2012.

Flybe franchise partner Loganair, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2012, plans to run seasonal flights every Saturday from 26 May through to 8 September.

However, a surge in ticket uptake for the service from leisure and business passengers has led the airline to add an extra two flights for the successive Saturdays up to 22 September.

Commenting on the move, Loganair’s chief operating officer Jonathan Hinkles, said: “We announced the new Norwich-Isle of Man service only three months ago, but demand for the new flights has far exceeded our expectations.

“With flights on several dates throughout the summer nearly fully booked and more people still wanting to travel, we’ve responded to this demand by adding extra flights through September.”

Services from Norwich to Manchester and the Isle of Man are operated by Loganair’s subsidiary Suckling Airways, using a 31-seat Dornier 328 fast turboprop under a franchise agreement with Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline.

Flybe and franchise partner Loganair yesterday officially re-launched a direct daily service between Exeter International Airport and Norwich.

The service, which has returned after a two-year absence, will now operate seven days per week using a 31-seater Dornier 328 fast turboprop.

The future of the service is looking promising with a 2000-strong advance ticket take-up ahead of the launch.

With a flight time of just one hour and 15 minutes, the service is perfect for both leisure and business users as the average driving time between Exeter and Norwich can be between six and eight hours.

Commenting on the launch, Loganair’s Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Hinkles said: “Today’s launch is a significant step in the development of Flybe’s network of services, which again include the route to and from Exeter International Airport.

“We were delighted with the level of advance ticket sales ahead of the launch and are confident the re-instatement of this daily route will offer our customers a speedy and cost-effective service between Exeter and Norwich.

“As well as helping to create 15 new jobs in Norwich, the return of this important regional route is great news for the local economies of both Exeter and Norwich.”

The daily service will depart from Exeter from 1pm, 4.35pm on Sundays, while inbound flights from Norwich will leave at 11.15am Monday to Saturday and 2.50pm on Sundays.

Summer officially arrived this weekend with the start of Flybe’s 2012 summer schedule.

The airline’s program of flights offers a total of up to 3,080 flights a week on 145 routes including eight new routes.

In addition, this weekend also marked the start of Flybe’s new Manchester hub operations that offers an additional 86 regional point to point connections and 12 new flights through Manchester airport. Flybe’s new initiative will benefit in particular passengers travelling to and from Aberdeen, Belfast City, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Inverness and the Isle of Man as well as those flying with its franchise partner Loganair from Norwich.

Regional highlights for summer include two new summer routes from Manchester to Newquay and Knock in Western Ireland, to where a new service from Leeds Bradford will also start; also Newcastle to Bergen (Norway); Newquay to Belfast City and Norwich; between Birmingham and Waterford (Ireland) and from Southampton to Tours in France. In addition, Loganair are offering four new flights out of Norwich (to Exeter, the Isle of Man, Manchester and Southampton).

Flybe has established a strong presence at London Gatwick airport from where it will operate 10 routes during Summer 2012 that, as well as its convenient UK regional services, also includes the return of a twice daily service to Nantes and the ever popular weekend flights to Bergerac. The airline flies over four times more domestic routes than any other airline from London Gatwick and remains the consistent holder of the airport’s Gold Award for outstanding punctuality.

Manchester Airport is to benefit from an additional 86 regional point to point connections created by Flybe as it becomes the first ever independent carrier in the UK to create a regional network hub from where passengers will have an additional weekday choice of 86 improved connections through Manchester International Airport.

This will benefit in particular passengers travelling to Aberdeen, Belfast City, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Inverness and the Isle of Man as well as those flying with its franchise partner, Loganair from Norwich.

In committing to better serve its passengers with improved connectivity, Flybe has worked hard with Manchester Airport to make these new services possible and reduce minimum connecting times to as little as 35 minutes.

By streamlining connectivity through its Manchester hub, the airline believes the added choice of conveniently connecting domestic flights will prove of special benefit to those travelling on business, those wanting an affordable choice of multiple day returns and creating additional opportunities for regional communities to access the many flight connections to the rest of the world offered from Manchester Airport.

Simon Lilley, Flybe’s Director of Marketing, says: “Flybe has always looked at innovative ways to improve its services and with 5% of our passengers already taking advantage of the many connections we have been offering for several years, it made perfect sense to further optimise this obvious need. As Europe’s largest regional airline serving 36 UK departure points, it made sense to ‘join’ more of them up and do it over Manchester, one of our largest bases. Manchester Airport immediately saw the potential and have worked hard with us to ensure that it could accommodate our re-adjusted schedule that now gives our passengers the added choice of over 80 new domestic connections. We also expect to see an increasing number of regional passengers choose to connect to the many international flights offered at Manchester rather than travelling through Heathrow.”

It’s been a bright start to the year for Southampton Airport with the introduction of three new airlines and six new routes for 2012.

The new Southampton flights will operate to:

• Barcelona – Vueling – flights will operate three times per week (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) from 23 June 2012
• Ibiza – Thomas Cook – flights will commence in May 2012
• Lyon – Air France – a weekly service will operate on Saturdays
• Nantes – Air France – flights will operate weekly
• Norwich – Loganair – flights will operate weekly from May to October
• Tours – Flybe – two flights will operate per week from 16 May 2012

Flights between Exeter and Norwich are set to return in March 2012, reducing commuting time by more than five hours when compared to road or rail journeys.

The flights, which will be operated by Flybe franchise carrier Loganair, will operate seven days a week from 25 March 2012 – fares from £49.99 one-way including all taxes.

Matt Roach, managing director of Exeter Airport, said: “We are always pleased to see a new operator at Exeter especially when they are putting on flights to a destination at the top of our UK most requested list.  There was particular regret from the family and friends market when it ceased so the return of the Norwich route should prove to be very popular.”

Links between Exeter and Norwich were offered by Flybe until 2009 but Loganair aims to make the route viable by using a 31-seat Dornier 328 fast turboprop.

Loganair’s Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Hinkles said: “We are delighted to be bringing our successful formula of frequent flights coupled to a range of fares to suit both business and leisure travellers to the Exeter-Norwich route. It will save customers from arduous road or rail journeys and we believe the new link will prove hugely popular throughout the year.”

Thomson Airways has this week launched the first direct flights from Norwich Airport to Egypt, flying into Sharm El Sheikh, which is growing in popularity each year.

This launch comes as the airline also announces that it plans to operate direct flights between Norwich Airport and Alicante and Tenerife as part of the winter sun offerings by Thomson and First Choice. The flights will run from now until April 2011.