A HEATWAVE may be gripping Hampshire but winter has come early to Southampton Airport.

The terminal was transformed into a winter scene to celebrate the launch of a new route to a skiing mecca.

A new service to Innsbruck in the Austrian Alps will begin on December 21 taking winter sportslovers to the heart of the Tirol region.

It opens the door to big name resorts such as Kitzbühel, Mayrhofen and St Anton. Customers using the Inghams-chartered flights can also travel to one of nine resorts in Italy via Innsbruck.

Dave Lees, Southampton Airport managing director, said: “The new Innsbruck ski route is great news for the airport and ski passengers from Southampton.

“Innsbruck is a fantastic addition for our winter ski programme, providing even more choice and opportunity for customers wanting to get on the slopes quickly and easily – direct from Southampton.

“We’re delighted to be working with Inghams on this new route.”

Louise Newton, Inghams marketing manager, said journeys to the new alpine destination would leave on Saturdays and that flights were already available for booking.

She added: “I am delighted that we have expanded our range of ski holidays from Southampton.

“This winter lots of high Austrian resorts will be accessible from Southampton.

This makes it straightforward to head up to Austrian gems such as Kühtai and Obergurgl for wonderful ski and snowboarding holidays.

“Our customers always give excellent feedback about how easy it is to ‘breeze’ through Southampton Airport and we’re delighted to increase their choice for next winter.”

Meanwhile Flybe is set to cancel its service between Southampton and the Isle of Man from next summer.

The direct service, which runs three times a week, will stop from July 21, 2014. All passengers booked after this date will be contacted and offered alternate flights via Manchester or a full refund.

The company blamed lack of demand for axing the route, which was only restarted in May 2012.