JUMBO jets that fly passengers on long haul journeys across the world will not be coming to Southampton Airport.

Bosses have ruled out extending the runway northward when a giant Hampshire railway works closes at the end of this year.

The news, which residents in Southampton, Eastleigh and Winchester have longed to hear, means transatlantic flights to destinations outside Europe will be a no-go in the future because the runway will not be long enough for them to take off.

Aiport managing director David Cumming has given a categorical reassurance that there are no plans to expand the runway towards Eastleigh when the town's Alstom works shuts with the loss of 550 jobs.

Residents living in surrounding neighbourhoods and under the flight paths have bombarded the airport with complaints about aircraft noise at the rate of about 600 a month.

Mr Cumming was put on the spot by Airport Pressure Group chairman Mary Finch at a meeting of the Southampton International Airport Consultative Committee.

He said: "Let me make it clear, we don't have any wish to start extending the runway north into the Alstom works - that is not our agenda.

"We have an agreement with Eastleigh Borough Council not to extend the runway anyway. I just mention it because people are always worried that we have at the back of our minds that if the Alstom works came up we would want to make our runway twice as long and extend it northward.

"The runway at present serves our purposes. We have always made it clear that the existing runway is long enough for the type of aircraft that we have using the airport."

Mr Cumming said he believed a developer already owned the Alstom land and that the demise of the railway works, although sad, potentially offered development opportunities to tidy up the area and make it easier for the long-awaited southern Eastleigh bypass to be provided.

Eastleigh councillor Godfrey Olson told the meeting that while job losses at Alstom were regretted, the situation could offer the chance for talks about getting on with some development and the provision of the bypass that Eastleigh has been awaiting for at least ten years.

The council's assistant head of planning policy, Tony Wright, said the authority was already in discussions with the property company and other parties about how the link road and access to land could be brought forward.

He also pointed out that there were parcels of land between the airport and the Alstom site which were not in the ownership of BAA, which owns the airport.

£5M NEW DEPARTURE LOUNGE:

WORK is under way on a new £5m, 550-seat departure lounge for Southampton International Airport.

Offices on the first floor of the terminal are being ripped out to make way for the new passenger lounge, which will also improve catering facilities and shops.

Improvements will also be made to the security search area to speed travellers on their way.

Demolition work has already started and construction work will get under way within the next fortnight.

The new departure lounge - which will also feature new upstairs toilet and baby changing facilities - is likely to be open by early summer.

Airport senior development manager Steve Thurston said: "There will be a new staircase going up to the new lounge and the first floor will be opened up with a glass balcony.

"We will be providing lift access plus ensuring adequate facilities to allow for passengers with wheelchairs and pushchairs. On the first floor we intend introducing a new improved cafe."

A second phase of the project aimed at improving the ground floor of the departure lounge is set to start in October.

Meanwhile, there were also plans to provide another 300 car parking slots on land within the airport boundary, while work on a project to double the capacity of baggage-screening facilities has started and is due to be completed by the end of April.