British Midland said yesterday that August had been a record month for the airline's Dublin-Heathrow route when it carried 73,000 passengers. It is 7 per cent up on the same month last year.

The company said the Dublin-London route continues to be one of its busiest in Europe. Last year, it recorded an increase of almost 9 per cent on the route, the largest increase on any of its routes.

British Midland's regional sales manager, Mr Ewen McDougall, said the growth could be attributed to a number of factors, including the growth in popularity of Dublin as a destination for leisure travellers and the success of its code-share agreements, as well as the growth in business traffic.

The company also announced that it had now carried 50,000 passengers on its Dublin-East Midlands route, which it launched last year.