Figures to be released by the Civil Aviation Authority this week will show that rapid growth of airports outside London is the biggest trend in UK flying.

There are now 17 airports across the UK offering no-frills flights, double the number of a decade ago, with the latest, Robin Hood airport Doncaster Sheffield, beginning services on Thursday.

Thomsonfly will fly from Robin Hood airport to Malaga, Valencia, Palma, Faro, Pisa, Paris, Alicante, Jersey, Ibiza, Prague and Dublin. Fares start at £32 return.

Alex Hunter, chief commercial officer at Thomsonfly, which also operates out of Coventry and Bournemouth, said: “There’s a big population density in Doncaster and Sheffield and we are confident that the routes will be popular.

“Regional airports have been doing well because of the lower overheads — cheaper landing charges in particular. They’re also less congested than the big London airports, with easier and cheaper parking, and they’re local, so you don’t have to drive so far.”

Other no-frills airlines taking advantage of booming regional business include easyJet (Bristol, Nottingham East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Luton, Newcastle), Ryanair (Prestwick, Stansted), Jet2 (Leeds-Bradford), flybe (Southampton), MyTravelLite (Birmingham), and bmibaby (Cardiff, Nottingham East Midlands and Manchester).

Latest figures from BAA for the past financial year show that the number of passengers using Southampton airport grew by 12.9 per cent — the biggest rise of its seven UK airports. More than 1.5 million people used the airport.

Malcolm Ginsberg, editor of Air & Business Travel News, an airline industry newsletter, said: “How long all this growth can continue, I don’t know. My feeling is that plane growth will hit a point similar to train expansion: it can’t go on for ever.” The Government predicts that air travel will increase from 180 to 480 million passengers a year by 2030.

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