Two new routes have helped Aberdeen International Airport (AIA) to another big jump in its monthly passenger total.
The terminal was used by 289,193 people last month, an 8.2% increase on the March 2013 figure.
It was the 12th consecutive month of year-on-year growth and coincided with new flights to two European capitals, Oslo in Norway and Riga in Latvia.
AIA managing director Carol Benzie said the latest rise, driven by a 12.9% increase in helicopter passengers and a 7.4% lift in fixed wing travellers, was the result of hard work behind the scenes to attract new business.
She added: “I am pleased to see that our efforts have paid off, allowing us to deliver more growth.
“There are a lot of exciting things happening at the airport at the moment and the energy that these have created is palpable.
“We are pressing ahead with work on the terminal redevelopment, we have seen two new air services take off in the last month alone and we have been working hard on further route development.
“My team and I spent time in Marseilles earlier this week at the foremost European route development conference, Routes Europe, delivering our message about the opportunities here to the wider aviation industry.”
As reported in the Press and Journal a year ago, Aberdeen will host the Routes Europe event next year. More than 1,000 representatives of airlines from across the world will be at the show to find out what Aberdeen, the north-east and Scotland have to offer international tourists.
Mrs Benzie said: “We look forward to welcoming them next year and work to ensure a smooth delivery of that event is under way.”
Heathrow Airport Holdings (HAH), which owns AIA, said passenger numbers at its four airports grew by 3.3% last month, to 6.7million.
Glasgow and Southampton saw increases of 4.1% to 531,700 and 3.7% to 129,100 respectively.
But numbers at London Heathrow fell by 2.8% to 5.7million, which bosses said was due to the timing of Easter.