Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) said it had its best year ever after welcoming a record 1.2 million passengers in 2016.

The South Yorkshire airport has now seen 26 months of consecutive growth.

The airport, which launched 15 new routes in 2016 to destinations including Paris, Dublin, Jersey, Sofia and Cluj, beat its previous busiest year 2007 by 11%.

The year saw Flybe increasing its operations from the airport, opening up new European routes.

Additionally, Wizz Air unveiled new connections to Sofia in Bulgaria and Cluj in Romania.

Combined with Thomson’s existing routes and newly launched flights to Dubrovnik and Bourgas the airport is now offering more destinations than ever before.

Steve Gill, chief executive of DSA, said: “The launch of new routes through our partnerships with Flybe, Thomson, Wizz Air and the opening of the Great Yorkshire Way motorway link road to the airport have played a major part in our ability to offer our passengers even more value and choice, and these figures are a testament to that.

“To complement these growing numbers, we have also invested in our terminal facilities to continue delivering a smooth and pleasant journey through and whilst at the airport …

“Our airlines’ codesharing agreements have opened up seamless long-haul connections to destinations such as Chicago, New York and Dubai, putting us in a fantastic position to support long haul tourism and business travel and in turn, the growth of the Sheffield City Region’s economy.

“We look forward to continuing our growth in 2017 and working with the region to develop our long term plans.”