NEWCASTLE International Airport is aiming to attract more passengers from Cumbria in 2017 as it expands the number of flights and destinations on offer.

And its business development director, John Irving, has welcomed the prospect of scheduled flights from Carlisle Airport even though it would be a potential competitor.

Newcastle offers flights to 80 destinations, mostly in Europe but also to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and handled 4.8m passengers in 2016.

Only four per cent, however, originated in Cumbria.

Mr Irving said: “We are not getting as many passengers from Cumbria as we would like.

"We are the closest international airport to Carlisle. One of our priorities is to explain to people in Cumbria what's available.

“We are very strong on how we look after our customers, from car parking to getting people through security quickly and efficiently.”

The airport has come a long way since it opened in 1935 with a grass runway.

Today it supports 3,200 jobs on site, and a further 4,600 across the region, and its masterplan anticipates that, by 2030, it will be contributing £1.3bn a year to the regional economy.

Airlines operating from Newcastle include Aer Lingus Regional, Air France, bmi regional, British Airways, CityWing, Eastern Airways, easyJet, Emirates, Eurowings, Flybe, Jet2.com, KLM, Ryanair, SAS, Thomson, Thomas Cook and Vueling.

Although United Airlines axed a seasonal service to New York in 2016, Emirates' long-haul service to Dubai continues to perform well and Mr Irving is confident that the airport will hit its target of 5m passengers in 2017.

He said: “We've had quite a lot of growth. Jet2.com have put on more capacity through the summer and extended the summer season into October.

“easyJet started a new route to Berlin in November and Ryanir are here in a much bigger way with some extra routes to Spain, including Madrid.”

He believes that, so far, the airport has benefited from the fall in the value of the pound since the EU referendum.

This has made it cheaper for overseas visitors to come to Britain but, conversely, more expensive for Brits to go abroad.

Mr Irving said: “More people are coming into Newcastle, although whether that's due to the pound we're not sure.

"People [from the UK] still want to travel and forward bookings for 2017 are looking pretty strong.”

Certainly, there was no sign of a slowdown over Christmas.

More than 135,000 passengers passed through the airport between December 19 and January 2 on 1,210 flight movements.

Popular destinations included Dubai, the Canary Islands, Dublin, Amsterdam and mainland Spain.

Newcastle Airport does not expect scheduled flights from Carlisle Airport to have a material impact on its business.

Stobart Group, which owns Carlisle Airport, has secured subsidies from the Government's Regional Air Connectivity Fund to support routes to London Southend, Belfast and Dublin, although there is as yet no start date.

Mr Irving said: “Obviously, I want people to fly out of Newcastle but it would be great from an industry point of view if there were flights from Carlisle. There is definitely a market and they can capture a bit of it.”