Vueling, Spain's low fare airline, has launched a new Southampton to Barcelona service, which joins its new Cardiff to Alicante and Palma de Mallorca routes.

This weekend Vueling (pron: "vwelling") flew the first flights of its latest additions to its UK network, and also reintroduced its popular Edinburgh to Barcelona schedule.

Vueling's first flight into Southampton from Barcelona touched down on Saturday with its inaugural service landing on time at 16:45. The regular, scheduled flights will operate between Southampton Airport and Barcelona El Prat Airport (yes, heard that joke before!), three times weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Fares on the Southampton-Barcelona route will start from approximately £32 (€39.99).

For passengers flying into Barcelona, the airline has over 40 onward connections throughout Europe and North-Africa, including the Greek Islands of Santorini and Crete, as well as Gran Canaria, Malta, Malaga, San Sebastian, Rome and Venice, with full through baggage check-in from Southampton and Cardiff to final destination.

New Routes from Cardiff

Vueling already operates three times weekly Cardiff to Barcelona flights and this weekend added a further two routes to its schedule from the Welsh capital.

Direct flights to the historic, Spanish town of Alicante and the holiday destination of Palma de Mallorca, began flying on Friday 22 June. Both routes will offer direct flights three times a week on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday* on Vueling's Airbus aircraft for the summer season. Vueling is also offering passengers flying to Mallorca the opportunity to maximise its Barcelona Hub connections programme to return to Cardiff via Barcelona on a Friday so making short breaks a more convenient option. Fares from Cardiff to Alicante start from approximately £58 (€69.99) and to Palma de Mallorca from £32 (€39.99)

Reintroduction of Edinburgh Route

Vueling also began the reintroduced service from Edinburgh to Barcelona this weekend when the first flight left on Saturday 23 June. The three times weekly flights, which will operate on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays will complement Vueling's 2012 summer schedule that features existing flights from London Heathrow to Bilbao, Galicia, La Coruna and Vigo and its new routes from Cardiff to Barcelona, Mallorca and Alicante and from Southampton to Barcelona. Lead in fares from Edinburgh start from £75 (€89.99) one way, taxes included.

*From September 16th the Cardiff-Alicante route will be available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays