The Eastern Airways service to London City airport at 07.15 was followed by the carrier’s maiden flight to Newquay.

The London flight will operate daily on weekdays, moving to twice daily on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays “as soon as demand strengthens”.

The Newquay flights run once a day on Mondays and Fridays, giving the option of week-long or weekend stay in Cornwall.

The new flights come following the re-launch of daily flights to Aberdeen and Belfast City following the airport’s closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

KLM has also announced it will be restarting its route to Amsterdam on 3 August, initially for once-daily flights, moving to three-times daily as the market allows.

Roger Hage, Eastern Airways’ general manager commercial and operations said: “We are delighted to finally get London connected again to Teesside and restore one of the most important links with the new London City service.”