BUZZ, the UK's third largest low-cost airline, has announced aggressive expansion plans that include rolling out three new bases in the UK and Europe. The first new UK base will be Bournemouth Airport and flights will commence from March 2003 with seats on sale this Autumn. A second new UK base and a mainland Europe base will follow by the end of 2003. In addition, the airline's seat capacity will increase by over 50% by the end of 2003 as the carrier replaces its current BAe 146 aircraft with larger 737-300 aircraft. Buzz has also de-merged from KLM uk and will from now on operate as a fully fledged limited company within the KLM Group. Founder chief executive Florrs Van Pallandt will focus exclusively on further developing buzz as an independent low-cost carrier within the KLM Group with Tjero R. Zomer taking over his position as CEO and president of Transavia. Mr. Zomer has been a Transavia Board member for the last 15 years. The deal with buzz is Bournemouth Airport's largest ever and will see over 200 jobs created as a direct result of the carrier's intention to base two of its aircraft at the airport initially. buzz estimates that it will put 750,000 seats into the market from Bournemouth in its first year, through a selection of European routes.
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