SOUTHAMPTON International Airport will not need to expand to meet rising passenger numbers as long as other airports in the south east are developed.

The government has decided action must be taken to expand the UK's airports because there could be 500 million air passenger movements in the country by 2030 - compared with 180 million this year.

The Department forTransport has produced consultation documents exploring ways of meeting the extra demand, ahead of a White Paper due out next spring covering aviation policy over the next 30 years.

But Southampton Airport's consultative committee will hear at a meeting today that none of the suggested options identified a significant role for Southampton Airport.

In its consultation, the government recognised that Southampton had "a valuable role as a regional airport capable of accommodating a range of short-haul air transport routes to a variety of destinations".

But it concluded that "the airport cannot satisfactorily accommodate the substantial growth that would be required if the airport were to make a significant contribution to meeting the UK's long-term airport capacity needs".

The government acknowledged that BAA's existing development strategy for the airport would allow expansion from the present 850,000 passengers a year to 1.4 million.

The consultation report suggests that "a higher load factor (presently averaging only 30 passengers per aircraft), larger aircraft and timetable changes could all facilitate some increase in passenger throughput".

Predicted passenger numbers for Southampton are 2.8 million a year in 2015, rising to 7.1 million a year in 2030 if there is no extra runway capacity at other south-east airports, or 1.6 million a year in 2015, rising to three million a year in 2030 if there is significant new runway capacity in the south-east.

In his report to the committee, honorary secretary Richard Ward backs measures to increase passenger throughput at Southampton and to enhance the range of destinations. But he says this should be subject to safeguards protecting residential communities affected by airport disrurbance and measures to improve public transport links.