Airliner bmibaby has announced it is to launch a number of extra flights from Birmingham and Manchester Airports this summer.

Flights to destinations such as Mahon, Almeria, Murcia, Malaga and Palma will all see an increase in numbers this summer.

Crawford Rix, the managing director of bmibaby, said: "We are seeing strong demand from passengers for flights to typical summer sun destinations.

"The additional weekly flights will allow us to carry over 2,000 extra passengers to popular sun destinations each week."

Mr Rix added that extra capacity would make the airliner "the largest low cost carrier flying from the Midlands to the Mediterranean".

Flights from Birmingham Airport to Malaga will be up to twelve a week, while flights from East Midlands to Menorca will go up to four.

Recently, the airliner has launched a number of new routes, including to Newquay from Birmingham and Amsterdam and Toulouse from Manchester.

By Graham Greenaway for FHR-Net