Bosses at Newcastle Airport are looking forward to carrying four million passengers in 2003 with the introduction of a number of new budget routes.

The news comes on the back of a successful Christmas period for the Tyneside airport, with passenger numbers well up on the festive season for 2001.

Low-cost airline easyJet is to fly to six new destinations from Newcastle Airport during the year, and another service has been launched by Ryanair.

Mike Luddy, airport marketing director, said: "In the New Year the first Ryanair service to Dublin began operating, with the once daily service commencing on 4 January.

Popular destinations

"As well as the addition of this further low cost route, there are easyJet's new forthcoming services, and continued growth on traditional scheduled and charter operations from the airport.

"We expect to see annual passenger numbers reach the four million mark in 2003."

Latest passenger statistics show that overall passenger numbers for the final month of 2002 increased by 17% compared with December 2001.

Popular destinations were Tenerife, Lanzarote, and Andorra.

Easyjet services to Alicante, Barcelona and Belfast will begin in March, and flights to Paris, Prague, and Bristol, begin five months later.