NORWEGIAN airline Braathens celebrated ten years of flights from the UK when the commemorative flight touched down at Newcastle Airport.
General manager Moira Briddock ensured that there were tiers not tears when the flight came into land, presenting a Braathens birthday cake to Mike Finch, Newcastle Airport's marketing manager.
She said: "We thought the airport authorities deserved to have our cake and eat it.
"They have given us fantastic support during the past ten years, and I am sure that they will continue to do so in the next ten."
The airline has is UK headquarters at Newcastle, and operates daily flights from the airport to Gatwick and Aberdeen.
When the airline began operating in the UK in 1991 it envisaged carrying about 30,000 passengers a year.
Last year, it carried ten times that amount, with more than 300,000 passengers using the service between the UK and Stavanger, Bergen and Oslo.
The airline operates a modern fleet of 737 aircraft in Europe and recently introduced enhanced services on international routes.
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