NEW figures have revealed the far-reaching effects on North-East airports of the horrific events of September 11.

The terrorist attacks led to a drop in passenger numbers at both Newcastle and Teesside, with national figures also showing a decrease, according to the latest Civil Aviation Authority statistics.

Although Newcastle has seen a one per cent year-on-year increase for May 2002 in comparison to May 2001, the airport suffered an initial reduction of 13 per cent in the immediate months following the terrorist strikes in the US.

Annually, passenger figures to May 2002 reached 3,340,330 and a similar figure of 3,346,908 was recorded for the 12 months leading to May 2001.

John Parkin, chief executive at Newcastle Airport, said the negative percentage had gradually reduced over the past five months, which had led to a small increase in May.

He said: "The events of last autumn interrupted a very long standing period of growth both at Newcastle Airport and within the aviation industry in general, in the same way as the Gulf War did a few years ago.

"Recent passenger figures at Newcastle illustrate the process of recovery which will take at least a year to work its way through, but the trend of recovery is encouraging."

Teesside Airport has also seen a reduction in passenger numbers, but has fared far better than some of the bigger airports, with a fall of just 0.65 per cent.

In the 12 months from January to December 2000, 754,989 passengers passed through its terminals compared to 750,089 in 2001.

A spokesman for the airport said the effects of the atrocity on business could have been a lot worse.

He said: "Our figures are not as bad as some, but they are bad enough. We saw a drop in scheduled flights last year, which is primarily down to September 11, but at the same time we had more inclusive tour passengers. We would soon expect to be back on our general target for next year."

The biggest fall nationally was at Heathrow, the UK's largest airport, which handled 60 million passengers last year - six per cent fewer than in 2000.

* On a national scale, UK airports handled 181 million passengers last year, which works out at just one per cent more than in 2000.

However the rise in low-fare airlines saw regional airports in the country handle more than 68 million passengers in total last year - six per cent more than in 2000.