Buzz to open second UK base

Low-fare airline Buzz is to fly from a second UK base from next year, helping to create 200 jobs, it was announced today.

The no-frills carrier will begin services from Bournemouth airport from March.

A third UK base as well as a mainland European site will be established by the end of next year.

Buzz said it hoped to fly 750,000 passengers from Bournemouth in the first 12 months of operation.

The airline, which is part of the empire of Dutch carrier KLM, currently flies to 22 destinations from Stansted airport in Essex and last year carried 1.4 million passengers.

The airline has not yet announced which routes it will operate out of Bournemouth, but hopes to increase its seat capacity by more than 50% by the end of 2003.

Buzz’s chief commercial officer Tony Camacho said: “We have been courted by a number of UK airports but ultimately we felt that Bournemouth had the strongest offering.

“We believe that it’s a superb regional base for us to grow the south coast market and offer flyers a welcome alternative to London Gatwick.

“Bournemouth is already the UK’s fastest growing airport and is therefore ideally suited to become another low-cost, stress-free gateway to Europe.”