THE region’s newest air route will generate £7m each year for the North-East economy and will help to underpin and create jobs, airline Ryanair said yesterday.

The Irish low fares carrier revealed it will be launching a route from Newcastle International Airport to Norway in May, which will operate three times a week.

The service, which runs to and from Oslo’s Rygge airport, will be the fourth service Ryanair operates from Newcastle, flights for which can be booked from today.

The route was last night hailed as being significant for both tourism and business, and will help to build on the existing strong historic economic links between the North-East and Scandinavia, which have been strengthened further recently through the development of the thriving oil, gas, marine and subsea sectors.

And as well as the opportunity to build on such trading links, Ryanair yesterday said that in-bound tourism to the North-East would account for about £7m annually, and could help to create and sustain jobs in the region.

Laura McCormack, spokeswoman for Ryanair, told The Northern Echo: “We’re delighted to be able to launch this route, which comes despite the economic conditions, and we’re sure will bring a lot to the North-East and give a real boost to the area.

“We believe that through inbound tourism, this route will contribute £7m to the local economy, and can hopefully help to support the existing economic links between the two further.

“This announcement will safeguard Ryanair jobs in the area and, given the economic benefits the route will bring, will hopefully safeguard and create jobs in the North-East.”

David Laws, chief executive of Newcastle International Airport, said he is confident the route will prove popular.

“Norway now becomes even easier and cheaper to reach by air from our region and is a fantastic country to visit for both holidays or business. The North-East stands to benefit from a very significant increase from tourism and inbound business,” he said.

The announcement comes as a further boost to The Northern Echo’s Keep the Region Flying campaign, which seeks to highlight the importance of air links to the regional economy.

It was launched in February last year, after airline bmi announced it was cancelling its three daily flights from Durham Tees Valley Airport to Heathrow.

Budget airline flyglobespan also announced it was pulling out of the airport in the same month.

Ryanair already operates three routes from Newcastle – to Barcelona, Barcelona Girona and Dublin – and a flight to Alicante from Durham Tees Valley.