SOUTHAMPTON Airport has passed a major milestone – for the first in its history two million passengers have passed through the terminal in a 12-month period.

Between May 2016 and April 2017 the airport welcomed 2,029,873 passengers, the highest number since commercial flights began in 1918.

That figure is up by around 250,000 on the same period in 2015-16.

Last year was one of expansion for the airport. During 2016 it welcomed four new airlines including KLM with worldwide flights via its hub in Amsterdam, bmi regional which launched a new service to Munich and Aer Lingus which launched direct flights to Cork. I

It was also the first airport in the UK to offer scheduled flights with European based airline, Volotea, to Majorca and then Ibiza for 2017.

Flybe also announced five new routes from Southampton including Biarritz, Lyon, Toulon and Paris Charles De Gaulle.

Dave Lees, the airport’s managing director, said: “The airport has been working extremely hard to deliver the routes and services that our passengers demand.”

To celebrate hitting the two million mark, the airport partnered with its airlines to give away free flights to thank passengers for choosing to fly local.

Two hundred cupcakes were given out to passengers in the departure lounge with tickets hidden amongst them.

Flybe gave away flights to any any of its destination from Southampton, Aer Lingus to Cork, bmi to Munich and Eastern Airways to Rodez, in the south of France.