LIVERPOOL John Lennon Airport (JLA) said last night passenger numbers during October had risen 11% year-on-year thanks to the introduction of new routes.
The airport added it was now right on target to break through the 5m passengers-a-year barrier for the first time in 2006.
A comparison of the number of passengers using JLA throughout 2005 and 2006 has been steady over the summer.
However, figures for October 2006 show a dramatic increase with 45,000 additional passengers using the airport compared with the same period in 2005.
During the first week of October, Irish carrier Ryanair launched 11 new routes to Aberdeen and Inverness in Scotland, Kaunas in Lithuania, Krakow, Poznan, and Wroclaw in Poland.
It was during this week that Ryanair also announced a further two routes from Liverpool to popular ski destinations Grenoble in France and Saltsburg in Austria, starting from mid December.
Low-cost Polish carrier Wizz Air also saw a boost on its Warsaw route during October with 77% more passengers travelling to and from the Polish capital compared to October 2005.
operating in October 1997. The airline currently serves 16 European destinations from its Liverpool base.
As 2007 draws nearer, JLA is confident it will achieve its predicted end of year forecast for passenger throughput which should be nearly 5m passengers.
Robin Tudor, general manager, corporate and community affairs at JLA, said: "This announcement is a great achievement for the airport. However, it couldn't have been reached without the commitment it receives from the airlines.
"The more routes they continue to introduce to new destinations, the more passengers will keep opting to travel through John Lennon Airport.
"Since October 2005, 17 extra routes have been added which takes the total number of schedule services now on sale to 62.
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