From May next year flights will be running from Norwich Airport to Jersey during the summer months as Scottish airline Loganair expands its flight schedule.

The airline employs 25 pilots, cabin crew and engineers at Norwich to support two aircraft on flights to Edinburgh and Manchester, to which it will add Jersey as a third destination from May 2017.

The new Jersey schedule will comprise flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays throughout next summer, with mid-morning or mid-afternoon flight times.

Flights will operate between May 1 and October 8, and Loganair will monitor performance of the route to assess whether there is demand to move the route onto a year-round footing.

A 31-seat Dornier 328 fast turboprop aircraft will be used on the new services. Fares will start from £49.99 one-way including airline taxes and charges plus a complimentary checked baggage allowance.

Services will leave Norwich at 2pm on Mondays, Fridays and Sundays and at 10.50am on Wednesdays for the 75 minute flight to Jersey. Return flights will leave Jersey at 3:45pm on Mondays, Fridays and Sundays and at 12:35pm on Wednesdays.

Loganair managing director Jonathan Hinkles called the expansion a 'statement of intent'.

'Our flights will restore weekday services between Norwich and the Channel Islands after an absence of several years,' he said. 'The route has primarily focused on summer holiday customers up to now, but we hope to prove a pattern demand from the business community and from those visiting friends and relatives in East Anglia that will ultimately support the route's development into a year-round weekday service.'

Scotland's Airline is also adding more flights between Edinburgh and Norwich in summer 2017 with the introduction of new Saturday services. There will be a morning flight from Norwich and an early afternoon flight from Edinburgh to complement up to three flights every weekday and a Sunday schedule on the route.