Liverpool John Lennon airport attracted 125,000 more passengers last year over 2016.
The annual increase of almost 3% saw 4.95 million passengers use the Merseyside airport – the highest annual figure since 2011.
The latest phase of improvement works are nearing completion with expansion and redesign of the existing World Duty Free shop with a broader range of products and brands available including MAC and Jo Malone.
The latest phase of development work was completed last year including a £4.5 million revamp of the upper floor of the airport departure lounge.
Liverpool had the seventh best record in the world for scheduled flights on time performance when compared to airports of a similar size in OAG’s latest punctuality league and 13th overall.
Highlights in 2017 included the start of Blue Air’s base at Liverpool and the introduction of year-round services to Rome, Milan and Alicante.
Other new routes to European cities included Venice by easyJet, and Prague, Bari and Girona with Ryanair, while Tui started summer holiday flights to Ibiza.
Airport strategy director Mark Povall said: “2017 has been another great year for the airport with even more passengers choosing to take advantage of the convenience of flying from here.
“To achieve such high levels of on time performance once again whilst giving a growing number of passengers an even better passenger experience is a real credit to everyone who works at the airport and an achievement that we are all proud of.”
“We expect 2018 to be even busier with easyJet basing another aircraft at Liverpool from July onwards.
“Everyone will be working hard to deliver a great customer experience at the same time as continuing to push for more new routes from both existing and potential new carriers.”