Oxford Airport has announced its first scheduled passenger services flying seven days a week.

The Kidlington airport will run daily 18-seat services, in conjunction with airline Manx2.com, to Jersey and the Isle of Man every day, all year round, from May 8.

It is the first such scheduled flight deal the airport has struck with an operator and managers hope to make similar arrangements to provide regular links to international airports like Dublin and Paris.

A one-off charter flight to the Irish capital last month, to connect with a service to New York, was a sell-out success.

For the past three summers, the airport has seen weekly services to Jersey, operating from May to September.

Short-lived five-days-a-week services, run by an independent firm, previously flew to Cambridge and Edinburgh.

Single tickets for hour-long flights to Jersey are £49.95 in May and £54.95 during the summer, with the planes leaving at 12.25pm from Monday to Saturday and 3.30pm on Sundays. Return flights will be 1.50pm from Monday to Saturday and 4.55pm on Sundays.

Yesterday, travel website Expedia was selling return flights between Jersey and Gatwick from £92 on May 8.

The Isle of Man service will cost £49.95 to £64.95. Flights will last an hour and will leave Oxford at 10.55am from Monday to Saturday and 6.20pm on Sundays. Return flights will be at 10.55am Monday to Saturdays and 2pm on Sundays.

Expedia was advertising May 8 return flights between the Isle of Man and Luton for £103.

Oxford Airport managing director Chris Orphanou said: “This is a terrific start to the New Year for the residents of Oxford and our wider catchment area.”

Managers say the airport is an attractive alternative to large airports around London with five million people living within an hour’s drive.

Mr Orphanou said: “It’s a move in the right direction and we’re looking at other opportunities.”

He said regular services could be set up to Dublin, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt, while a link to New York could return if the demand was there.

Manx2.com chairman Noel Hayes said: “Oxford Airport is a very attractive addition to our route network, located half way between London and the UK’s industrial centre in the Midlands. Customers repeatedly tell us that they prefer to use the smaller, easy-to-access regional airports.”

The airport wants to attract more commercial flights after being affected by a drop in pilot training operations, as firms use more simulators.

It is restricted to 160,000 total take off and landings a year but managers said that even with expansion, the number of flight movements was unlikely to come close to this.

Kidlington parish councillor Chris Pack said members were “generally supportive” of the airport.

While he said some residents experienced “disturbance” from planes, he said he could not comment on the extra flights without more details.

He added that he was “surprised and disappointed” to learn of the new services from the Oxford Mail, instead of the airport, which said the council would be notified soon.