The number of passengers flying with Stobart Air from London Southend Airport trebled to 35,000 between April and August, the Irish carrier says.
Stobart flies the Southend routes for British airline Flybe and began expanding the network last May, when it introduced new craft on the services.
The company’s latest figures show that the number of passengers travelling on the Southend flights grew to 35,000 in August from 8,700 in April.
Stobart's began using Embraer jets in May, whose extra range allowed it to offer passengers flights to Lyon, Milan, Budapest and Prague.
Since it added the routes in May, the company has sold almost 163,000 extra seats for flights from the airport.
It plans three further services under the Flybe flag from the autumn including a Dublin-Southend route, which it will fly up to three times a day.
Stobart is best known as the airline that operates the Aer Lingus regional services linking centres in the Republic with various parts of Britain.
Its biggest shareholder, transport group, Stobart, owns Southend Airport, which is located in Rochford, Essex, in southeast England.
Stobart Air managing director Graeme Buchanan described the August figures as a testament to its investment strategy.
“We are on track to carry two million passengers in 2017, a 50 per cent increase in passenger numbers over the past five years,” he said.
