A SECOND French connection for Bournemouth Airport has been commissioned by budget airline Ryanair.

The Irish-based low-cost carrier which has operated from Hurn since 1996 yesterday revealed plans to launch a return service between Bournemouth and Nantes in the Brittany region of France.

News of the Nantes service comes in the same week that Ryanair began scheduled flights between Bournemouth and Marseille on France's Mediterranean coast.

Taking off next month, the Nantes service will be the eighth regular route operated by Ryanair from Bournemouth where it expects to carry some 500,000 passengers a year accounting for half the airport's commercial traffic.

The Nantes route begins on June 14 and will operate three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with outbound flights taking off at 7.50am for the 90-minute journey.

Sixth largest city in France and capital of the Loire Atlantique département of southern Brittany, Nantes is an historic town on the banks of the Loire and 30 miles from the Atlantic coast.

Famous for its medieval cathedral, Nantes was the home town of writer Jules Verne and is now noted as an arts centre with a large student population.

Using the airline's new Boeing 737-800 aircraft carrying up to 189 passengers, the Nantes flights will be dovetailed in with existing Ryanair schedule services to Dublin, Shannon, Glasgow, Madrid, Barcelona, Pisa and Marseille.

Ryanair UK marketing executive Ed Grimsey said: "Since we started flying from Bournemouth in 1996, Ryanair has been committed to bringing low fare routes to the region.

"To date over 1.8 million passengers from Bournemouth have enjoyed our low fares, best customer service and a no fuel surcharge ever guarantee."

"In its first year we expect to carry 42,000 passengers on the new route, meaning that almost half a million passengers will benefit from Ryanair's low fares to and from Bournemouth in the year ahead."

Tickets for Nantes go on sale on line from tomorrow (May 11). One-way prices start from £10 under a new Ryanair pledge to make 10 million seats available for an inclusive £10 fee.