AIR wars have broken out in the skies above Hampshire, with low fare airlines Ryanair and Flybe getting personal in the battle for passengers.

And customers are set to be the winners with fares looking likely to fall further.

Ryanair triggered the latest row by warning customers against being "ripped off by Flybe's fares to France" in an advert in the Daily Echo.

The Irish airline, famous for its combative style, reckons its £10 tickets on five routes from Bournemouth compare favourably with its rivals, where prices start at £33.99.

A spokesman branded Flybe a "high fare airline" and said it planned to "wipe out" the opposition with a series of promotions, including last week's offer of completely free flights.

Flybe hit back, claiming its operation dwarfed Ryanair's Bournemouth base, which it described as out of the way down "country lanes".

It's not the first time the aviation giants have clashed in public.

Previously the pair have set up competing ad-vans in and around Southampton Airport to persuade customers to fly with them.

The latest falling out comes as Ryanair continues to expand at Bournemouth, where it launched its first flight in 1996, with routes to Nantes and Marseille taking its offer from the south coast to eight destinations.

Ryanair aims to carry 490,000 passengers from Bournemouth this year, with the airport preparing major expansion plans to increase passenger flights to 100 a day and three million passengers a year by 2030.

However, its Dorset operation is overshadowed by Flybe's Southampton activities. Europe's largest regional airline since it swallowed rival BA Connect earlier this year, Flybe is the biggest carrier at Southampton Airport by some margin with 34 routes served and 787,000 passengers carried last year.

Southampton Airport also has plans to grow and plans to carry six million passengers a year by 2030.

Caroline Baldwin of Ryanair said: "We have put in an extra two routes from Bournemouth but we are really upping the ante across the network with a couple of price incentives that will wipe out the opposition.

"The first is a price guarantee where Ryanair guarantees to refund double the difference if anyone can find cheaper flights elsewhere.

"Then, last week we gave away one million seats, including taxes and charges. It's a warning to all our competitors that fares are coming down.

"Ryanair is in a position that no other airline is in to heavily discount fares. Flybe are not even in the same ballpark. They are flying the wrong aircraft and they can't match us.

"The south coast is crying out for low fares - they never had them before. Flybe is a high fare airline."

Flybe spokesman Niall Duffy said: "If you want to travel miles down country lanes to get to Bournemouth to get on flights that aren't as regular and don't offer the choice that Flybe does, then fair enough.

"We are very confident with the product that we offer. Flybe is a low fare airline that offers a considerably higher level of service than many of our competitors.

"We are proud to be the biggest operator out of Southampton which compares so much more favourably with Bournemouth.

"We are not worried by Ryanair's latest over-excitement."