The budget carrier wants the 15 extra staff to man the extra services it is running next summer.

We are looking to expand our current crew base by a further 15 positions that will arise when we expand our services this summer from Cardiff International Airport Tony Davis, bmibaby

Tony Davis, managing director for bmibaby, said: "We are pleased to be able to announce the further expansion of jobs at bmibaby for the people of Wales.

"We are looking to expand our current crew base of 30 by a further 15 positions that will arise when we expand our services this summer from Cardiff International Airport."

The job announcement comes after bmibaby expressed an interest in taking over British Airways' routes from Cardiff International Airport after the national carrier withdrew its services.

British Airways said it is withdrawing all its flight operations from Wales following a review of its CitiExpress routes.

Tony Davis described BA's pull-out decision as "a big mistake" and said he is interested in picking up the airline's Paris route which becomes available in March.

New routes

The budget operator began working from Cardiff airport in the autumn, flying to routes across the UK and Europe, and added three additional routes earlier this month.

Mr Davis said: "bmibaby has been operating out of Cardiff very successfully for seven weeks.

"We're very excited about the opportunity to expand our service even further."

BA will cut 46 flights a week - to Brussels, Paris, Jersey, Aberdeen and Belfast - affecting a total of 71 staff as part of reducing its air routes across the UK to 21.

The Welsh Assembly Government's Business Minister Carwyn Jones said that Air Wales as well as bmibaby had begun expressing an interest in taking over the routes vacated by British Airways.

He said BA's level of services from Cardiff had been dwindling "for years" and that the firm had pulled out of Cardiff before and the airport had continued to go from "strength to strength".

Growth

Earlier this month, a consultation report on expanding Cardiff International Airport to carry up to 9m passengers a year was published by the UK Government.

The report linked the growth of the airport with the economic well-being of Wales and also looked at the potential spin-offs for a network of smaller airports around the county.

bmibaby's expansion in Cardiff follows new figures which show that the number of low-cost flights within the UK has soared in the last 12 months.

Information company OAG has compiled figures showing that the rise of the no-frills airlines has meant there has been a 129% increase in domestic low-cost flights - the equivalent of an additional 775 flights a week.