Domestic air travel has risen by a third in seven years despite a record amount of public money spent on the railways and official advice to avoid flying within Britain.

New routes are starting between destinations that are fewer than 200 miles apart and which are connected by rail and trunk roads.

A daily service between Southampton and Newquay will start next summer, and there are already two flights a day from Norwich to Manchester and two from Bristol to Plymouth.

Airlines offer 50,000 seats a week between London and Manchester, despite the two cities being served by a fast train every 30 minutes that takes just over two hours. Flybe, Britain’s biggest domestic airline, says that it is benefiting from high train fares and recent timetable changes, which have sharply reduced the number of through trains. Passengers on Cross-Country, the long-distance train company, are now often forced to change at Birmingham on routes which last year were served by through trains.

An analysis of airline schedules conducted for The Times by OAG, an air travel information company, reveals that 40 million seats were available on domestic air services in 2007, compared with 30 million in 2001. There were 454,000 domestic flights this year, more than 1,200 every day, compared with 391,000 in 2001. Some airlines have switched to larger aircraft.

Of the Top Ten domestic air routes in terms of available seats, only London to Belfast and London to Jersey are not served by a direct 125mph rail service. However, air fares have halved over the past decade while the cost of long-distance rail travel has risen by almost 30 per cent. A return airline ticket in the morning peak between London and Manchester costs as little as £80 while the standard class open return train fare is £230.

Jim French, Flyebe’s chief executive, said: “The high cost of rail is making it much more attractive to fly.”

Environmental groups argue that domestic flights are fuelling demand for new and expanded runways. Jeff Gazzard, the co-ordinator of the Greenskies Alliance, said: “Flying around the UK and to near-European neighbours needs to be made socially unacceptable. Taking the train from Newcastle and Manchester to London should be the only choice for business and the individual traveller.”

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