MILLIONS of air passengers are seeing iconic images of the North-East at London’s Heathrow Airport.

The VisitBritain adverts, worth £1m, feature images of Durham Cathedral, Hadrian’s Wall, the Angel of the North, Newcastle/Gateshead Quayside and Bamburgh Castle and aim to attract visitors to the region.

A competition on the airport’s Facebook page asked people to vote for images and the North-East went up against the North West, Northern Ireland and the Midlands, resulting in over 40,000 votes in total.

With around 13 million passengers a year already using Heathrow, the five promotional GREAT campaign images of the North East will be live across digital screens in all terminals at Heathrow from today (Monday, September 8) for three months.

Heathrow’s CEO, John Holland Kaye, said: “It was fantastic to see the passion of the people of the North-East and how they really got behind the competition, resulting in over 19,000 votes for the breathtaking image of Hadrian’s Wall.

“Heathrow is the gateway to Britain and sees around 73 million passengers a year travel through the airport. With seven flights a day from Heathrow to Newcastle we hope the images will inspire passengers to explore the beautiful North-East during their visit to the UK."

North East Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive, James Ramsbotham, said: “The iconic images that have been selected showcase the North-East at its beautiful best."