A YEAR of ‘significant growth’ for Bournemouth Airport took off today.

The 2023 season began for the airport on Wednesday, March 1, with the start of weekly TUI flights to Paphos in Greece.

The airport is anticipating significant growth through 2023 as thirty per cent more flights have been added to Ryanair’s schedule from Bournemouth, including new destinations Venice, Carcassone and Edinburgh.

This expanded capacity was announced in December, as the airline confirmed that they would be basing a second aircraft in Bournemouth.

This means the Irish low-cost carrier will be able to offer 120 flights a week from the airport.

These are three of the 35 destinations that customers can fly to from the airport, with the list including ten year-round destinations: Alicante, Dublin, Faro, Krakow, Lanzarote, Malaga, Malta, Tenerife, Venice and Wroclaw.

The airport held a recruitment open day recently, as it prepares for the busy season ahead.

Bournemouth Airport managing director Steve Gill said: “March is the time of year when we start to see numbers building towards the summer peak and TUI’s weekly flights to Paphos herald the start of our 2023 season.

“With TUI flying to 14 destinations and Ryanair 18, it’s one of our biggest programmes in years, offering customers great value and great choice from their local airport, without the stress of the larger hubs.”

The full list of destinations is:

  • Cyprus: Paphos
  • Croatia: Zadar
  • France: Bergerac, Carcassonne
  • Greece: Corfu, Crete, Kefalonia, Rhodes, Zante
  • Hungary: Budapest
  • Ireland: Dublin
  • Italy: Venice
  • Lapland: Enontekiö, Ivalo, Pajala
  • Malta
  • Poland: Krakow, Wroclaw
  • Portugal: Faro
  • Scotland: Edinburgh
  • Spain: Alicante, Girona, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Majorca, Malaga, Menorca, Murcia, Tenerife
  • Switzerland: Geneva
  • Turkey: Antalya, Dalaman
  • Special Departures: Barbados (fly/cruise), Fjords (fly/cruise)