Low-cost airlines have introduced new routes at the airport

Newcastle Airport has recorded its busiest day ever with 17,899 passengers flying out of Tyneside in one 24-hour period.

The record breaking day was on Saturday, 26 July, 2003, and throughout the month total passenger numbers rose by 9% compared to the same period in 2002.

And the airport has high hopes of beating its new record, when figures for August are collated.

On domestic scheduled services passenger numbers grew by 14% and international scheduled figures increased by a significant 31%, largely as a result of the airport's new low cost routes.

Ryanair and Easyjet have both introduced new routes to European cities.

Amsterdam was the busiest international scheduled route with more than 23,500 passengers using the KLM service in July

'Competitive fares'

Holiday charter numbers grew by 2%, with Spain and the Balearics proving the most popular holiday hot spots with passengers travelling from Newcastle.

Chris Sanders, business development manager at Newcastle Airport, said: "We're delighted to see strong growth in our passenger figures once again, with more than 431,000 passengers using the Airport last month.

"Significant increases on both international and domestic scheduled flights can be linked to the wide availability of affordable fares.

"The low cost airlines, as well as the more traditional scheduled airlines, have been offering extremely competitive fares on UK and European routes.

"That has encouraged both business and leisure passengers to take advantage of the excellent deals available.

"With the launch of three more Easyjet routes from Newcastle to Paris, Prague and Bristol on 1 August we expect to report even stronger figures next month."