THE region's two airports are preparing for their busiest Easters on record, with more than 25,000 passengers due to leave from either Newcastle or Durham Tees Valley airport this weekend.

About 8,200 passengers are expected at Durham Tees Valley over the weekend, an increase of 25 per cent on last year, and a record 17,000 at Newcastle Airport.

Budget airline bmibaby starts its summer flying programme from Durham Tees Valley this weekend, offering two new routes; to Cork and to Paris.

The airline will operate nearly 50 flights a week from Teesside during the summer to Alicante, Belfast International, Cork, Paris, Jersey, Malaga and Palma.

There are also new daily flights from Teesside to Rome operated by low-cost airline Ryanair. Scheduled services will also operate to Dublin, London Heathrow, Amsterdam and Aberdeen. There will be charter flights to Alicante and Tenerife.

Richard Whitehouse, commercial manager of Durham Tees Valley Airport, said: "Passengers are taking advantage of the increasing range of destinations and city breaks offered from their local airport. Low-cost airlines have made it easier and cheaper to travel, which is why more and more people are choosing to fly rather than face traffic jams on the roads over the busy weekend."

At Newcastle Airport, favourite destinations include Barcelona, Amsterdam, Prague and Budapest.

Chris Sanders, manager of aviation development at the airport, said: "This weekend marks the start of scheduled airline summer timetables, including additional services to Cologne and Munich in Germany and a new route to Kent International Airport."

Air France has also added an extra weekly service for the Newcastle to Paris route.