Ryanair will be adding three new routes for passengers keen for a summer getaway this year.

The company’s popular Bournemouth to Malta flights will resume in March while it will be starting two routes – one to Carcassone in France and another to Rhodes – at the same time.

The flight to Rhodes, which will go once a week from the airport, is the low-cost airline’s first Greek route from Bournemouth.

It starts on March 26 and Maria Macken from Ryanair said the new routes represented the operator’s commitment to Bournemouth Airport.

“We think people will be really happy with these two new routes. As well as the Malta route this means Ryanair will be operating 16 routes from Bournemouth in total this summer.

“They are really good destinations for Bournemouth. Carcassone is particularly good for accessing a huge area in France.”

The Carcassone route will run twice-weekly with prices starting at £35.99, with Malta also running twice weekly.

The news was welcomed by members of the public in Bournemouth.

Matt Davies, 34, an IT developer from Westbourne, said: “I have used Bournemouth Airport before to go to Spain because it is convenient.

“It is more relaxing than going to London and I would definitely consider going to Malta.”

Test analyst Simon Lockhart-Ball from Moordown said: “I haven’t used Bournemouth Airport recently because they have cut back on destinations but it is nice to see a new one and I would think about going there.”

And Bettine Quenault, a 58-year-old contract cleaner from Bournemouth, added: “It is much easier to than other airports.”