LJLA said the top five most popular sunshine routes were Barcelona, Malaga, Alicante, Faro and Palma as passengers take advantage of the first Bank Holiday of the year. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) saw a 10% rise in passenger numbers over the Easter weekend as the busy summer season got under way.

Easter this year coincided with the start of the summer schedules for many airlines, with new routes and increased frequencies and around 70,000 passengers passed through the airport between Good Friday and Easter Monday.

LJLA said the top five most popular sunshine routes this Easter were Barcelona, Malaga, Alicante, Faro and Palma as passengers take advantage of the first Bank Holiday weekend of the year and travel to the Mediterranean in search of warmer weather. 

Robin Tudor, head of PR for LJLA, said: “The region’s travellers look set to take advantage of the convenience and choice of destinations available from Liverpool over the Easter period.”

LJLA has also announced this week that travel giant TUI has announced and new route to Dalaman in Turkey for summer 2019.

TUI UK’s commercial director Richard Sofer, said: “Summer 2019 is the most ambitious programme we have ever introduced. We are focusing firmly on expanding access to our amazing range of holidays through an extended regional flying programming.”