Newcastle named the world's most punctual small airport

The airport handled more than 41,000 scheduled flights last year, and achieved an on-time performance of 90.94%.

Its most punctual route was to Dublin, with an on-time score of 99.85%.

It introduced a number of new flight routes in 2016, including services to Berlin, Cancun and three Polish destinations - Gdansk, Warsaw and Wroclaw.

The airport, which serves more than 80 direct destinations and connects across the globe via its hub connections, was one of only three UK airports which achieved an on-time performance rating of more than 90%.

Nick Jones, interim chief executive at Newcastle International Airport, said: “We are delighted by this result, which is a real testament to the hard work of all our staff.

“Our goal is to be the UK’s most welcoming airport, and to achieve an on-time performance rating of over 90% is a fantastic achievement.

“We have built a strong route network here at Newcastle International and pride ourselves on being the international gateway to and from the North East.

"We shall use this latest recognition to ensure the Airport becomes even bigger and better in 2017.”

John Grant, senior analyst at OAG, which produced the punctuality tables, said: “It’s great to see Newcastle perform so well in 2016 and demonstrate the importance of punctuality to both travellers and airlines.

"Our data shows that Newcastle Airport were clear winners in their category and we congratulate the whole Newcastle team on that achievement."

Newcastle International Airport supports 12,200 jobs in the North East, including 3,200 onsite.

Around 4.8 million passengers passed through the airport last year.