NEWCASTLE Airport continues to fly high with confirmation that over 4.8 million passengers travelled through the terminal last year.

With an increase of six per cent compared to 2015, over 250,000 more passengers used the airport last year, which has now seen six years of positive year on year growth.

August was the busiest month for the region’s biggest airport, with almost 600,000 passengers passing through the terminal, the highest number since 2007.

The airport recorded its strongest December in over 10 years, with more than 300,000 passengers travelling in the final month of 2016.

The airport’s daily Emirates service to Dubai celebrated record numbers in August. The route, set to celebrate 10 years of operation in 2017, carried 22,745 passengers in August from Newcastle and its Dubai hub.

Alicante was the favoured holiday destination for the North-East travelling public, with 341,298 people travelling to the Costa Blanca.

The latest figures come less than a week after the airport was announced as the most punctual small airport in the world, with over 90 per cent of flights both leaving and arriving on time.

The airport also introduced a number of new flight routes in 2016, including services to Berlin, Cancun and three Polish destinations to Gdansk, Warsaw and Wroclaw.

The airport further strengthened its range of city destinations on offer, with flights to Madrid set to commence in March 2017.

Nick Jones, the airport’s interim chief executive, said: “2016 was a fantastic year with some amazing achievements.

“We have seen a number of record breaking months at the airport and to have now seen six years of positive year on year growth is a great accomplishment.

“We have worked very hard to build a route network that offers a wide variety of choice to suit the needs of all our passengers.

“With even more choice available from Newcastle, 2017 is set to be a special year as we expect to surpass five million passengers.”