Southampton ready for its first international flight of 2021

• Video report from ITV News Meridian's Mike Pearse.

Passengers from the South Coast will be able to jet off to Gibraltar today, as Southampton Airport welcomes its first international flight of the year.

Eastern Airways, which took over several routes from FlyBe, will be operating the route on a twice weekly basis.

It comes after over a year of low flight levels, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the collapse of FlyBe.

The service to Gibraltar is a "first" for the airport, and will be providing a vital link for both business and tourism.

• Steve Szalay, Operations Director, Southampton Airport

The airport hopes that the inaugural flight is a sign of better things to come, as the country recovers from the impacts of the pandemic.

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