AIRPORT officials are “walking before they run” on burgeoning New York flights and working feverishly on new holiday routes to complement their Transatlantic adventure.

That was the promise of Leon McQuaid, Newcastle Airport’s aviation development manager, after the site secured new Ryanair winter services to Lanzarote and Tenerife.

Mr McQuaid told The Northern Echo plans are afoot to broaden its partnership with the Irish carrier to offer holidaymakers affordable alternatives to its growing Big Apple operations.

United Airlines’ non-stop services to the US start again in May, running an increased six times a week through to September after a successful introduction last year.

However, Mr McQuaid said while demand is rising for The City That Never Sleeps, bosses will never lose sight of the larger picture.

He pointed to Newcastle’s tie-up with Ryanair, which includes more flights to Malaga and Alicante and is expected to deliver further city breaks in the coming months.

He said: “Forward bookings for New York look very positive and we are extremely excited about having United back.

“One of the things that seems to be getting through is that you can connect into 300 destinations; people are seeing that is possible.

“They are understanding the potential, but we will walk before we can run.

“However, we want to be sustainable; we are not putting everything in the cooking pot.

“What we are doing is bringing the right things in.

“The Ryanair flights add more choice and competition; these are strong markets that have always performed well.

“We have a wishlist and there is an opportunity for more city breaks to build that portfolio and build a market around the flights.”

Newcastle’s increased Ryanair partnership will also include making its existing Dublin trips into a twice-a-day package, which Robin Kiely, the airline’s head of communications, said will benefit those heading over the Irish Sea for both business and pleasure.

Mr Kiely also said the changes will help more than double the company’s passenger numbers at the airport from 160,000 to 330,000, and support 250 jobs.

He added: “Newcastle is very important to us and we hope to see more Geordies coming out to Dublin to sample the Guinness and more Dubs coming over to enjoy the Newcastle Brown Ale.

“People coming to the UK go to London or Manchester for their trips, but people are now looking for more places to go.

“I see no reason why we can’t connect to more airports from Newcastle.

“We are very happy with how things are going here and believe this is the start of a bright future.”

Mr Kiely also said Ryanair hopes to benefit from holidaymakers’ change in focus, with terror incidents in Turkey and Tunisia, and the downing of a Russian plane, purported to have been carried out by an Egyptian terrorist faction, turning people towards Spain.

He added: “People are avoiding areas they are fearful of; tourists who go to Turkey won’t be going there this year.”