A BUDGET airline will continue looking to strengthen its North-East services but has warned any decisions could be impacted by Government dawdling over a controversial tax.

Ryanair has told The Northern Echo it is assessing new flights from Newcastle Airport after record-breaking demand for summer departures.

However, the carrier has demanded swift Government action on air passenger duty (APD), saying flyers could shun Newcastle in favour of bases in Scotland, where cuts are planned to begin next year.

The warning came today (Wednesday, April 26) as Ryanair unveiled its 2017 winter schedule at Newcastle, which includes new routes to Spain and Portugal.

The carrier’s Iberian services feature an extension of existing summer flights to Madrid and Faro, as well as sunshine getaways to Tenerife, Alicante, Lanzarote and Malaga. Its roster also takes in routes to Dublin and Poland’s Gdansk, Warsaw and Wroclaw.

Bosses say the flights will help push Ryanair’s Newcastle passenger numbers to around 750,000 over the next 12 months, doubling traffic on a year ago and making the airline the airport’s third largest carrier.

However, speaking to the Echo, Robin Kiely, head of communications, confirmed it would continue looking at new destinations to keep pace with demand.

He said: “It’s a good mix of winter sunshine and city destinations and we’ve got a great relationship with the airport.

“Madrid is a fantastic city break; people might think of Barcelona but Madrid is an undiscovered gem in terms of tourism.

“Faro gets reasonable weather in the winter too, and there’s a large golfing community down there.

“It is about demand and our scheduling and routes team are constantly talking to business development director John Irving and aviation development manager Leon McQuaid to see where we can go next.

“A lot of that is of course dependent on people using the airport, and we would encourage them to continue doing so.”

However, Mr Kiely said the airline would be happier still if the Government ditched APD, pointing to the impact such a change has had in the company’s Irish homeland.

Since dropping the tax in 2014, figures show annual passenger numbers have risen from 23 million to 32 million, with new carriers also attracted to the country.

He added: “You’re going to have a lot of politicians knocking on doors in the coming weeks looking for votes and we would ask people to remind them about what they are going to do on APD.

“Getting rid of APD will help Newcastle continue attracting more routes and help its continued growth.

“We want the Government to come up with a plan on APD and come up with it quickly.

“It serves no purpose and just makes it more expensive to fly out of the country.”