NEWCASTLE Airport has recorded another exceptional month for growth in passenger numbers.

More than 192,000 people flew out of the airport, an increase of 29 per cent on the same time last year. Of those, 90,000 took domestic flights, a 40 per cent increase for the third consecutive month.

London Stansted recorded a 181 per cent leap in passenger numbers, with London Gatwick showing a 43 per cent rise and Heathrow a 30 per cent increase in numbers.

A new record of one million passengers using domestic services was achieved for the first time between January 2000 and last month.

Air service connections into main European hub airports all showed encouraging signs of growth. Nearly 46,000 people flew on international scheduled services in the past month, a rise of 17 per cent.

Amsterdam showed a rise of 20 per cent, with Copenhagen achieving a 25 per cent increase and Belgium a 15 per cent growth.

Gill Airways saw the passenger numbers on its Paris service increase by 46 per cent.

The number of people using charter services out of Newcastle increased by 17 per cent for the month of January and by seven per cent for the past 12 months.

Trevor Went, managing director at the airport, said: "Our January statistics speak for themselves in underlining the buoyancy of the air transport market in the North-East.

"It has been an excellent start to 2001 and we will be working hard to maintain levels of growth and to capitalise on our successes."