ONE of Hampshire's biggest employers is set to create another 500 jobs.

National Air Traffic Services (NATS) has announced it is to close its centre at West Drayton, near Heathrow, in 2007 and move 500 operational staff to its centre in Swanwick, near Southampton.

NATS currently controls aircraft flying in UK airspace from four centres at Swanwick, West Drayton, Manchester and Prestwick.

But by spring 2010, when a £1 billion modernisation programme is complete, Swanwick and Prestwick will control all UK air traffic.

Swanwick will then become one of the busiest air traffic control centres in the world.

NATS already employs 2,000 people in Hampshire, at Swanwick and its corporate and technical centre at Whiteley.

Another 500 staff will relocate to headquarters in Whiteley over the next two years and when the West Drayton operation moves, a total of 3,000 people will be employed in the county.

Paul Barron, NATS chief executive, said: "Combining our West Drayton and Swanwick operations under one roof will consolidate our en-route service and enable us to meet the growing demand.

"By 2012, we expect the number of flights using UK airspace to rise from two million to three million a year."

Fareham's civic chief, Councillor Sean Woodward, added: "It's really the final piece in the jigsaw for NATS in Hampshire.

"Every single person south of their Scottish operation will be working and living in Fareham, which is very good news."

The site at West Drayton currently supports two operations, the civic London Terminal Control, covering south east England up to a height of 25,000ft and all flights flying in and out of London region airports, and London Military, which handles military and off-route flights over the south east.

Terminal Control will go live at Swanwick in October 2007, with London Military following two months later.

In 2004, the Swanwick Centre handled 1.7 million flights, making it the busiest in Europe.