FLIGHTS to Southampton were today cancelled and delayed after airline Flybe grounded six of its aircraft for urgent safety checks.

Two flights from Edinburgh, four flights from Guernsey and three flights from Jersey have all been cancelled.

Passengers have been warned of further delays at the airport throughout today.

The grounding of six Flybe Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft comes after two of the same type of aircraft crashed on landing in Europe during the past three days.

Bombardier and Goodrich, the landing gear manufacturer has asked for 60 of the aircraft, including six belonging to Flybe to be grounded, so that checks can be carried out on the landing gear.

The first incident occurred at Aalborg, Denmark on Sunday, and the second happened on Wednesday at Vilnius, Lithuania.

In July, a Flybe Bombardier Q400 with 36 people on board had to make an emergency landing in Edinburgh when crew members were forced to shut down one of its two turboprop engines.

A Flybe spokesman, said: "This inspection affects six of our Flybe Q400 aircraft. Flybe has 74 aircraft of all types in its fleet. Flybe has immediately followed this advice and is inspecting the aircraft. We are reviewing options to minimise disruption to today's flying programme."

Passengers are being urged to review the Flybe website for regular updates or to call the airline's call centre on 0871 522 6157.

A spokesman for budget airline Ryanair, which operates services from Bournemouth, said it was unaffected as it used a different type of aircraft in its fleet.