A NEW airline route to Croatia could be launching at Southend Airport soon after the airport confirmed it was in talks with a number of carriers about starting services.

Sea Air has announced on its website that it will be starting to operate flights between the eastern European country’s fourth largest city Osijek and Southend Airport on March 24.

However, the airport’s chief executive Glyn Jones said discussions were still on going with the airlines and no routes had been confirmed.

He said: "We are talking to a number of airlines about the possibility of commencing services to and from London Southend Airport - however it would be inappropriate to comment on these talks whilst our discussions with them are still underway.

“Once we have any announcements to make on new routes from London Southend Airport, we'll let you know right away."

Sea Air states the flights will operate every Thursday and Sunday while the carrier had decided to introduce the new flights to London because its passengers often requested the destination.

The airline, which already operates services to Germany, also says it will include a one way train ticket from Southend Airport to Liverpool Street as part of the ticket.

The news comes in the week that figures from the Civil Aviation Authority revealed the number of passengers travelling through Southend Airport had fallen by 18.2 percent in 2015.

In 2014, 1,102,544 people flew from the airport, but from January 1 to December 31 2015, that number had fallen to 901,424 passengers.

Skywork Airlines also announced that it was moving its flights to Bern in Switzerland from Southend to London City Airport due to ‘operational reasons.’ There is now a three times daily service to Bern and Basle.

Last year, the airport was named the best in Britain at the Airport Operators Association awards.