Plymouth City Airport has been ranked as the second fastest growing airport in the country after official figures revealed a 31% increase in passenger numbers.

The impressive growth has been attributed to the introduction of new flights earlier this year to Glasgow airport, Newcastle airport, Dublin and Cork by Plymouth-based law fare regional airline Air Southwest.

Civil Aviation Authority figures just released for June show a 31% increase in the number of passengers using the airport, compared to the same period last year. This compares with a national average drop in passenger numbers of 1%.

Mike Coombes, deputy chief executive of Air Southwest, said: “There’s been a lot of doom and gloom around about air travel recently so it’s good to be able to report that Plymouth is bucking the trend.

“All our new routes have been very well received. Glasgow is proving especially popular for business travellers, particularly with marine-related businesses, and for short breaks in Scotland.

“Newcastle has also seen a lot of marine and Naval-related traffic, and we’re seeing a lot of customers take advantage of the city’s legendary nightlife and its proximity to the Northumberland coast and national park.

“Our Cork and Dublin routes, which were historically operated by another carrier, have also proved popular following their reintroduction and 40% of these customers are inbound visitors attracted by golf, fishing, sailing and the region’s fine food, which is a welcome boost to the local economy.

Plymouth City Airport now serves 10 destinations. As well as the new routes introduced this year, Air Southwest flies to London Gatwick four times a day, seven days a week, and has regular services to Manchester airport, Leeds Bradford airport, Jersey and Bristol airport.

And from December 20 Air Southwest will run a new weekly service from Plymouth to the French ski resort of Grenoble.