These are the seven destinations Teesside International Airport will fly to in 2020, including new flights to Dublin and Belfast

The announcement today, Friday, January 24, includes multiple daily connections to Dublin and Belfast and comes a year on from a special cabinet meeting at which Mayor of Tees Valley Ben Houchen and five local authority leaders agreed to purchase the airport and implement the Mayor’s turnaround plan.

The return of daily flights to London, reconnects Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool to the capital by air for the first time in 11 years.

Eastern Airways, which currently operates the Aberdeen service from the airport, is adding five new daily routes as well as a seasonal service and an increased number of Aberdeen flights.

The new routes will roll out from next month and will see the return of flights to Dublin in time for St Patrick’s Day, starting from £69.99.

There will also be daily direct connections to Belfast City Airport, Cardiff and Southampton. From May 30 this year, passengers will also be able to fly to the Isle of Man on a seasonal service.

This announcement, which includes 37 new flights per week, will add 185,000 seats each year, more than doubling the number of available seats.

Tickets will be available to buy in the coming days.

Mr Houchen said: “Exactly one-year to the day since I secured the long-term future of our airport and saved it from closure, I am delighted to announce we’ve secured a host of new routes, including flights to Dublin and Belfast which I know will be hugely popular with people across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.

“We only got the keys to the airport in March, and I pledged to introduce ten extra routes by 2022. Fast-forward ten months and we are on the right track to reach that target well before anyone expected us to do so.

“The people of Teesside have told me time and time again they want our airport to succeed. This includes bringing back the first European holiday flights in five years last summer. These flights, to Majorca and Bulgaria, are proving to be very popular and a record number of people love our Amsterdam flight and its global links.

“These additional routes I am announcing today will make our airport go from strength to strength.”

Stobart Aviation’s Kate Willard said: “I’m really excited to be working with this airline partner to bring brilliant new routes to Teesside International. They’ll offer even more options for people to destinations across the UK and Ireland and show how far we’ve come in such a short space of time.

“Stobart is dedicated to seeing this airport become a flying success. This is an ambition shared by this airline provider, and it’s fantastic they are now working with us to realise the potential of Teesside International.”

The airport continues to serve more than 200 worldwide destinations via its three daily services to the award-winning Amsterdam Schiphol airport.

The announcement follows the well-received holiday flights to Bulgaria with Balkan Holidays, which has confirmed a second summer season in 2020, and JetsGoHolidays’ direct flights to Majorca from next summer.