Passengers using Liverpool John Lennon airport rose by 70,000 to 2.4 million in the first half of the year.
The growth of 3% meant the first six months of 2018 were the busiest at the Merseyside airport in seven years.
Figures for the past 12 months show that the airport’s annual passenger numbers have now exceeded five million for the first time since 2011.
Throughput in June was up 2.5% year-on-year to almost 470,000 passengers.
New services by Blue Air to Majorca and Malaga, Shannon by Ryanair, special Champions League final flights and higher passenger loads on existing routes helped to boost passenger numbers.
Growth is expected to continue during the second half of the year, with a number of new routes announced including easyJet to Pula, Dalaman and Palermo; Wideroe to Bergen in August and Ryanair to Paphos in October.
Aviation development director Paul Winfield said: “The first half of 2018 has been another successful period for the airport with more and more passengers taking advantage of the convenience of flying from Liverpool.
“The recent completion of the latest terminal improvements gives our growing numbers of passengers an even better customer experience and as we build up to the busiest time of the year with the start of the school summer holidays just a few weeks away, we expect to see further growth in passenger numbers during the second half of the year.”