Stansted Airport is expecting more than 280,000 passengers to pass through its terminal over Easter.

Ten new routes will be added to the airport’s network over the coming weeks, with summer timetables having official started this last weekend.

Among the new routes are long-haul destinations Orlando, Las Vegas and Cancun, regional services to the Isle of Man, Newcastle and Newquay, and European/North Africa services to Deauville, Azores, Clermont and Monastir.

Flybe has already begun flights to the Isle of Man while other new routes set for take-off in the coming weeks include Flybe to Newcastle and Ryanair to Deauville and the Azores.

May will see the start of Flybe’s new daily service to Newquay whilst easyJet will launch a new connection to Monastir in June and in July, Thomas Cook Airlines will operate new long-haul services to Orlando, Cancun and Las Vegas.

Stansted already serves more than 170 direct connections and offers more scheduled European destinations than any other UK airport, with up to four flights a day to key destinations such as Barcelona, Dublin, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Managing director Andrew Harrison said: “Stansted is already the fastest growing major airport in the UK serving over 20million passengers a year and with the new routes set to join the departure boards, is set for a very busy and exciting summer.

“Providing our passengers with the widest choice of destinations and airlines is at the heart of our ambition to continue the growth of Stansted. Whilst we have much of Europe covered in terms of connectivity, it’s really exciting to be expanding our network even further and to open new UK connections to better serve our regions and to also welcome our new long-haul connections to the USA and Mexico.

“The £80million transformation of our departure lounge couldn’t have been timed better as we continue to rapidly grow our passenger numbers. With phase two of the terminal re-development nearing completion, and with many more new shops and our Escape Lounge to follow very soon this really is a fantastic time to choose Stansted when jetting off for summer.”