Passengers are letting the plane take the strain following the Hatfield rail crash.

Stansted low cost airlines Ryanair and Go have both recorded increased passenger numbers to Scotland since the Hertfordshire incident on October 18.

Irish carrier, Ryanair began flying to Glasgow Prestwick five years ago and increased the service to nine flights a day in October.

Communications officer Enda O'Toole said 51,000 passengers flew to the Scottish city in November - a 30 per cent increase on October and almost double the November 1999 figure.

"We were already busy in October and now we are even busier. We have had booming passenger numbers following the collapse of railway services," he added.

Spokesman for go, Brandon Stockwell, said up to 40,000 passengers were expected to have used the Edinburgh route during November - up a third on October.

The low-cost airline began a Glasgow service at the beginning of November, which is already proving successful according to Mr Stockwell.

He said fares were also a consideration for passengers.

"Our return tickets to Edinburgh start at £48 with a maximum seat price of £140," he added.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.