Venice among new destinations in Bournemouth airport's multimillion pound expansion

Holidaymakers flying from Bournemouth Airport can look forward to more routes from summer 2023, as passenger numbers return to pre-COVID levels.

Sunseekers from the South Coast will be able to fly direct to Venice, Carcassonne and Edinburgh all year round with Ryanair.

The budget airline already operates flights to destinations including Tenerife, Alicante and Malaga.

It will now also fly direct to Edinburgh from Bournemouth, and have a new aircraft.

Ryanair said the expansion represents a £200 million investment across the region and would support 550 new jobs.

Steve Gill, managing director of Bournemouth Airport, said: “This is fantastic news for our passengers and offers even more choice from their local airport. We’re on course to have recovered 95% of our pre-pandemic traffic by the end of this year.

"With 30% more weekly flights next summer and 18 routes in total... it is a huge vote of confidence by Ryanair in Bournemouth Airport.”