Cornwall to London air route gets £2.5m government funding

The Newquay to Gatwick route is to get £2.5m of government funding to keep it running during a four year deal.

St Austell & Newquay MP, Stephen Gilbert, said he and business leaders had lobbied hard for the contract and government funding.

The Department of Transport said it was now a "public service obligation".

About 100,000 passengers per year are expected to use the service, which will be operated by Flybe.

The route had been under threat last year when Easyjet, which was expected to take over the Newquay-Gatwick slots from Flybe, said it was not planning to operate flights on the route, blaming lack of demand, but Flybe continued the service.

Mr Gilbert said: "This is the culmination of months of hard work to make the case that Cornwall does need a route into London.

"It is worth about £30m a year to the Cornish economy with about 3,000 jobs directly dependent on that route."