Flybe announced this week that it would be adding Tours Val de Loire airport to its list of French destinations. Between May and September, Flybe plans to operate two flights per week between Southampton and Tours and expects to carry 4,000 passengers per annum.

Negotiations for the new service have been ongoing for 5 years and the announcement was made at a news conference last Thursday by Alain Dayan, President of the union for the joint development of Tours Val de Loire Airport. The new service will be in addition to the service already provided by Ryanair which operates regular flights between Tours and London Stansted airport.

The new Southampton-Tours service is scheduled to start on 16th May 2012. There will be two flights per week on Wednesdays and Saturdays. A one way fare on the Tours-Southampton flight will be priced from £44.99.

Commenting on the announcement, Ian Taylor, CEO of Flybe, said he expected the service to cater in large part for the population of south east England amongst whom are the highest proportion of second home owners in the Loire Valley. The new service adds to Flybe’s existing portfolio of routes to provincial French airports which already includes Rennes, Perpignan, Avignon and Béziers.