Business leaders have welcomed Flybe’s plan to connect UK regions to London City airport.
The airline will compete with British Airways on the London City to Edinburgh route and with CityJet to Dublin, while challenging First Great Western’s train services to Exeter.
Other destinations to be served from the Docklands airport from October include Belfast and Inverness.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said the flights would improve the UK’s connectivity.
“The new routes will make more of the UK readily accessible, while onward links at London’s airports will provide businesses with greater access to a wide range of global export markets,” the CBI’s business environment director Nicola Walker told the Financial Times.
Stewart Nicol, chief executive of the chambers of commerce in Inverness, said: “We had a major campaign when Flybe stopped its three flights a day to Gatwick; we felt it was massively detrimental for the Highland business community.”
Flybe is to operate 78-seat Bombardier aircraft from the London Docklands airport.