Regional airports 'on the rise'

Regional airports in the UK are currently experiencing a period of strong growth, thanks to Britons' increasing appetite for foreign travel, according to experts.

Hubs such as Birmingham Airport and Edinburgh Airport are looking to expand their operations to accommodate growing demand, while the likes of London City Airport and Liverpool Airport are also intending to make plans for further growth, reports the Guardian.

The government has been keen to encourage these plans as Britons open up their horizons to ever more distant shores, said Callum Thomas, sustainable aviation professor for Manchester Metropolitan University's centre for air transport and the environment.

"Increasing affluence means people have more money to spend on holidays, but society as a whole is also becoming more global, both economically and culturally," he told the Guardian.

A number of airports have recently sought to boost their operations by improving transport links to and from their sites, with Stansted Airport announcing plans to revamp road and rail access this week and Leeds-Bradford Airport launching a shuttle service to York earlier this month.

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