YOU could soon check-in to Southend Airport and be sipping on a pint of Guinness in Dublin in just over an hour as flights are rumoured to be being relaunched from Southend to Dublin.

Stobart Air, which owns Southend Airport, is said to be in charge of operating the service and will reportedly base two Embraer E195 jets at Southend to provide the new Flybe service, the Irish Independent has claimed.

It is also rumoured that the route will use a jet.

The route was originally cancelled in March 2015, when the budget airline claimed that passenger numbers were below the predicted figures.

The new plans are believed to be at an advanced stage with flights set to begin operating as early as October.

John Lamb, deputy leader of Southend Council, is hopeful the new flights will go ahead as he believes they would have a positive impact on both holidaymakers and businesses.

He said: “If the flights were coming back that would be a very good thing; it was a very good route.

“It could be very positive for Southend.

“It should bring more people to the town and more business.

“I would imagine it really does help business people working in Ireland as it would be a direct route in a short space of time.

“It would be great, not only for people who want to go to Ireland for holidays or for business, but also if it could be used as outwards travel to America; it used to be the case that you could catch a Dublin to America flight which would save you time - possibly up to four hours - going through American customs.

“If people were able to do that again it would be great.”

He added: “My recollection from when it was cancelled before was that they said they were not getting sufficient people using the route; my hope is that if they do bring it back people will realise the great opportunity that it presents which could make it more commercial.”

Colin Brodigan, who is originally from Ireland but now lives in Station Road, in Westcliff, said: “I’ve lived here eight years and when we used to have the flights it was so easy to get to and we could go straight from work rather than travel to Stansted for an hour.

“It means I’ll save on travel and get to spend a lot longer at home in Ireland with friends and family.

“Hopefully flight times are reasonable but it could add maybe an extra eight or nine hours for me at home every weekend which would be great.”

Hayley Stark, 30, from Shoebury added: “I would 100 per cent use this service. It will be much quicker to get to Dublin which is great - I’m sure lots of people will be going there for the Game of Thrones tours they have there!”

Just before Christmas the airport announced 12 new routes to destinations including Venice, Prague, Budapest and Vienna.

But holidaymakers were left disappointed last month when the new planned routes to the French island of Corsica - which was touted as the “only scheduled direct London airport route to Figari - were cancelled due to “operational reasons”.

Stobart Air declined to comment and Flybe was unable to respond by the time the Echo went to press.