Irish low-fares airline Ryanair is to extend its services from the south coast, providing a £20m boost to the region.

In February, it is to begin operating from Bournemouth International Airport at Hurn with a daily service to Frankfurt, augmenting its existing service from the south coast airport to Dublin. It should swell passenger numbers by 100,000 a year.

Ryanair director of ground operations and in-flight, Charlie Clifton, said: "This is a great day for Ryanair and Bournemouth with the announcement of our second European base, resulting in a new scheduled service from Bourne-mouth to Frankfurt.

"Thanks to our partners, the new service will give a huge boost in tourism and business traffic to the south of England. Ryanair already carries over 80,000 passengers a year on its Bournemouth-Dublin route and we expect similar success on our new route to Frankfurt.''

The Bournemouth to Dublin service has been operating since May 1996 and airport managing director Glyn Jones, said: "The success of the route demonstrates the scale of demand for low cost travel from the south coast. I am sure there will be a huge demand for this and other new routes from Bournemouth.''

Ryanair will be using a Boeing 737 aircraft on the Bournemouth to Frankfurt route and one-way fares will start at £39 including taxes. Flights will leave Bournemouth at 4.10pm seven days a week with return flights at 3.45pm. Flight time is 1 hour 35 minues.