bmibaby has announced which three European destinations it will fly to from Teesside Airport from October. The initial three routes will be a daily service to Belfast (International), and Geneva and Malaga, which will be served with weekly Saturday flights.

In line with bmibaby's initial plan, set out in April, these services will operate using East Midlands-based aircraft.

However in March, in time for the busy summer peak, bmibaby will have North-East based aircraft, enabling more services to operate from Teesside.

bmibaby is set to increase the destinations it offers as the airport adjusts and develops to accommodate the demands of a low cost operation. However, the initial routes were all in the top ten requested destinations by people in the North-East.

Tony Davis, managing director of bmibaby, said: "We're extremely pleased to announce the new routes on sale from our fourth UK base at Teesside Airport.

"The initial routes and frequencies represent the first stages of growth of bmibaby's base at Teesside, the range of destinations is set to expand as the airport grows with us.

"We're very confident that the cities we will be serving will prove to be popular as we've listened to the travelling public and given them some of the routes that they most wanted to see from Teesside.

"Our new base will create in excess of thirty jobs for cabin crew and pilots, and it's fair to say that this number will increase in the future."

Local people are being invited to apply for up to 30 cabin crew jobs. More details can be found in the jobs section on the bmibaby website, www.bmibaby.com.

Hugh Lang, Managing Director, Teesside Airport, added: "We are looking forward to welcoming many new passengers using these three initial services with bmibaby.

"These routes will open up opportunities for inbound tourism to the Tees Valley and North East region together with the opportunity for passengers in the area to fly with the low fares operator. This is a significant development for the Airport and the Region and in particular the travelling public of the North East giving them a greater choice for business, holidays and short breaks.

"The Airport will be working with new partner Peel Holdings to ensure the Airport capacity and operational requirements fulfil bmibaby passenger and operational forecasts and those of our existing airlines and tour operators."

Seats on the new routes go on sale on Wednesday 2 July with Internet fares to Belfast starting from just £12.50, Geneva from just £31.50 and Malaga from just £41.50. All fares are inclusive of taxes and insurance surcharge and can be booked online at bmibaby.com or via reservations on 0870 264 2229.