THOUSANDS of residents under the flight paths of Southampton Airport may be in for a quieter time, it emerged today.

Regional low-cost airline Flybe, which runs 25 short-haul routes out of Southampton, has placed orders worth £256m to buy 20 special aircraft.

The jet-like planes are Q400s - regarded by aviation experts as one of the quietest passenger aircraft in the world.

That record-breaking deal with Bombardier Aerospace will bring Flybe's total fleet of Q400s to 41 aircraft.

Bosses at Flybe, which employs 100 people at the airport and is its largest operator, are unable to say yet how many of the new planes will be pressed into service here.

Locally, Flybe uses both Q400s and BAE146s, which are generally accepted to be noisier.

The four-year deal - Flybe's single biggest investment in its history - has been welcomed by Mary Finch, who heads Southampton Airport Pressure Group. She said: "We welcome anything to lessen the noise to people living so close to the airport. Hopefully they will replace the noisier 146s."

Bitterne Park School in Southampton, which is the nearest school to the runway, is also delighted with the news.

Steve Dossett, assistant head teacher at the school, said: "Flybe and the airport have been making efforts to improve their noise levels as they fly over the school. They are often in liaison with us and we have a good working partnership. We welcome any further improvements that can be made."

Q400s are flown on more than half of Flybe's routes.

In Southampton 15 of the 25 routes involve Q400s with the other ten made up of BAE146s.

Flybe boss Jim French, who has repeatedly stressed the company's commitment to minimising environmental impact, said: "Quiet jet-like performance and great engineering will help us continue to deliver on-time flights."

Southampton Airport saw a 34.4 per cent growth in passengers last year to more than 1.5 million, while aircraft movements went up 7.5 per cent to 54,017.

There are now 39 destinations from Southampton, served by 16 scheduled and charter operators.

Flybe, which recorded half-year profits of £14m in November 2003, runs services from the airport to places like Alicante, Brest, Geneva and Murcia.

An airport spokesman said: "We are pleased that Flybe has chosen the Q400 in its recent order. This aircraft is one of the world's quietest passenger aircraft."