BOURNEMOUTH Airport’s new routes to Dublin and Prague will be kept in the winter timetable, Ryanair has revealed.

The budget airline has also released extra flights for the October half term to destinations including Faro, Girona, Malaga, Palma and Paphos.

There will be additional flights for the Christmas period, including to Malaga and Krakow, and an extra weekly flight to Las Palmas from Saturday November 2 to March 28.

Bournemouth’s service to Dublin four times a week and Prague twice a week, which began in April, will continue. Bournemouth Airport says the extra flights for October half term and Christmas will add up to 20,790 seats.

Stephen Gill, Bournemouth Airport’s managing director, said: “Increasingly, passengers are appreciating the convenience of flying from their local airport. We handled more than 690,000 passengers in 2018 but expect to see that figure increase by up to 20 per cent this year.

“Our business plan is to double passenger numbers to 1.5million within five years which we consider to be absolutely achievable. Extra flights, such as the ones announced by Ryanair, help us get ever closer to our target.”