AN airline has increased flights from the North-East.

Ryanair will run services to Madrid from Newcastle Airport next summer.

The flights come after the budget Irish carrier announced it would begin taking holidaymakers to Faro, in Portugal, and Spain’s Girona and Palma next year.

The airline will also serve Poland’s Gdansk, Warsaw and Wroclaw, as well as Lanzarote and Tenerife, and has added more flights to Dublin, Alicante and Malaga, with officials hailing the services as the company’s largest-ever Newcastle summer schedule.

Ryanair’s extension comes on top of rival Easyjet’s decision to launch two new routes to Berlin and Las Palmas, in Gran Canaria, from Newcastle later this year.

Leon McQuaid, the airport’s aviation development manager, added: “Madrid is another excellent addition as we continue to explore and add further destinations.”

The airport was last month dealt a blow when United announced it was stopping New York flights due to weakerthan- anticipated demand and Brexit uncertainty.

However, Bob Schumacher, United’s UK and Ireland managing director for sales, exclusively told The Northern Echo the firm had no regrets over the venture, adding it hadn’t dismissed the possibility of returning longhaul flights to Newcastle.