ROUTES out of Southampton Airport are safe as regional airline Flybe culls hundreds of jobs.

About a dozen posts are to go at the city’s airport’s largest operator as it battles to plug a £3m black hole.

Soaring passenger duty and fuel bills are being blamed for the worst losses in the company’s history.

However, bosses say no routes from the city’s airport would be cut, although they did not rule out reducing flight frequency as they battle to make a profit.

Management and aircraft engineering posts will go by the spring as part of a national culling of about 300 jobs.

This will see support and production roles such as human resources and IT affected, while around a fifth of its management team is being cut.

The airline, which employs 250 staff in Southampton, is also considering outsourcing further support functions, including ground handling and onboard catering.

Flybe chairman and chief executive Jim French said: “I am extremely disappointed that many valued and hard-working colleagues may have to leave the organisation.

“We will make every effort to minimise the impact and to offer support wherever possible in the transition.”

The group, which also flies from airports including Bristol, Cardiff, Doncaster, Edinburgh and East Midlands, is also putting its network of 13 UK bases under review, with decisions made in the summer.

This comes as fuel costs rose by nearly a quarter last year, while demand was being stifled by air passenger duty hikes.

Passenger duty, as it is charged both ways on UK domestic flights, now accounts for 18 per cent of its ticket revenues.

The overhaul will reduce Flybe’s three divisions to two, comprising Flybe UK and a new outsourced services function, which includes providing training with other carriers.

As well as the jobs impact, Flybe will also cut costs with suppliers such as airports and maintenance providers and roll out fuel efficiency programmes.

Unions say the disposing of key aircraft engineering jobs was not justified.

Prospect negotiator John Stevenson said: “While we acknowledge that the UK’s continuing economic weakness is having a negative impact on business, we have yet to be convinced that the combination of job losses and the outsourcing of line maintenance put forward today provides the answer.”