Newcastle International Airport is aiming to woo more passengers from Cumbria as it expands the number of flights and destinations on offer.

Meanwhile its chief executive, David Laws, believes that Stobart Group faces an uphill task to make scheduled flights from Carlisle Airport viable.

Newcastle International has just completed a £14m revamp of its departure lounge, and now offers direct flights to 74 destinations including New York and Dubai.

Of the 4.6m passengers who used the airport in 2014, 170,000, or around four per cent, originated in Cumbria.

Mr Laws said: “We have a particularly loyal customer base in Carlisle but there is an opportunity to grow it.

“We need to make people aware of what we have in terms of customer service to make sure your journey gets off to the best possible start.

“In 2015, 97 per cent of our passengers were through security in under six minutes, and the friendliness of our staff appeals to people.” 

Passenger numbers for 2015 are estimated at 4.7m, rising to 4.9m in 2016. The revamped departure lounge – with new shops, cafes, restaurants and bar areas – was opened by Transport Minister Robert Goodwill in December.

Last year also saw United Airlines start flying six times a week to New York, while Emirates has been flying to Dubai since 2007.

Mr Laws said: “The New York flights allow people to access onward connections to 300 destinations in the US and Canada.”

British Airways and Air France/KLM also fly fly from Newcastle, as do budget airlines easyJet, Ryanair and Jet2.com – the latter will have seven aircraft based at Newcastle this year.

The Spanish low-cost airline Vueling begins flights to Barcelona in March, and Newcastle is in talks with Turkish Airlines and the German low-cost carrier Germanwings about new routes.

Mr Laws accepts that access is the main bugbear for passengers from Cumbria, particularly by public transport, although a new access road from the A69, to open in 2019, should improve the journey for motorists.

He is watching developments at Carlisle Airport with interest. 

Owner Stobart Group has secured a government start-up subsidy for services to London Southend, Belfast and Dublin, although up £4m worth of work on upgrading facilities will have to be completed first.

Mr Laws said: “The choice of routes is interesting. In my opinion, the Dublin service has more chance of success than London [Southend], because the rail service between Carlisle and London is quite good.

“If it works it will be an incredibly good thing for Carlisle.

"But the costs your that you incur in this industry are quite excessive – providing fire cover, air traffic control and security officers, and your runway has to be up to standard.”

Mr Goodwill, speaking in a Parliamentary debate on airport expansion last week, suggested that services from Carlisle could start in the spring.

But Stobart Group quickly scotched the idea.

A spokesman said: “Work on the runway and upgrading other airport facilities have yet to be completed, and we’ve never said it would be done by the spring. We can’t give a time frame.”

Stobart chief executive Andrew Tinkler has said previously that summer is the earliest likely start date for flights.