More than 20 million passengers used Manchester Airport last year

Greatest growth was in scheduled trips to Europe, where the opening-up of the aviation market in 1993 prompted the rise of budget airlines, the CAA said.

International scheduled passenger numbers at Bristol, Nottingham and Liverpool airports rose by over 1,000%.

Manchester saw passenger numbers rise from 10.2m in 1990 to 20.9m in 2004.

This was the largest increase in total passenger numbers.

Manchester is the UK's largest regional airport, followed by Birmingham (8.8 million passengers in 2004), and Glasgow (8.5 million).

At airports in the north-east of England, total passengers increased by 186% with numbers at Newcastle rising from 1.6m to 4.7m, and from 300,000 to 800,000 at Durham Tees Valley.

Choice

Regional economic development had been aided by air travel growth, the report said.

CAA economic regulation group director Harry Bush said: "UK regional airports, and the airlines that serve them, have expanded their networks and now provide a much richer set of travel choices for their customers.

"The challenge for policymakers is to build on the success so far by continuing to allow the interplay of commercially-minded airports and airlines to improve services and increase choice."

A CAA spokesman added that regional airports' growth had not meant a subsequent decline in business at London's airports.