From November the airline, formerly British Midland, will fly from the Leicestershire airport using only planes run by its no-frills carrier Bmibaby.

Currently Bmibaby flies from the East Midlands alongside parent company BMI, which operates on seven routes.

Details of which of these route operations will be continued by Bmibaby is due to be announced later.

'Considerable competition'

Bmibaby has proved a big success since its launch in March, with 200,000 passengers carried.

The no-frills airline is to start flights from Cardiff in October, flying to nine destinations from the Welsh capital.

BMI chief executive Austin Reid said on Monday: "It is vital that we recognise the changes in consumer attitudes that are taking place."

He said: "A window of opportunity clearly exists for us to grow and develop the low-cost part of our business when the industry faces considerable competition and lower fares."

BMI already operates from 10 UK airports, including Heathrow and Manchester.