EXTRA staff are being drafted into Glasgow airport this weekend as the annual October break sees tens of thousands take to the air.

Around 155,000 people are expected to pass through the airport for the annual getaway over the next week; one of the busiest times of the year.

Airport bosses say popular destinations include Budapest, Prague, the Canary Islands, Las Vegas and Florida.

Extra staff are being drafted in to help guide passengers, particularly those with young children.

Commercial director Francois Bourienne said: “We always look forward to the October holiday break, and this year it follows on from our busiest summer in seven years where we welcomed more than three million passengers through our doors and launched 24 new routes and services.

"This weekend will be a busy one and we are expecting 20% more passengers than we did during the same period last year."

He said there would be activities and craft fairs in the airport this weekend to help keep young children entertained.

"As always, we advise customers to arrive in plenty of time to get through security, and ensure that all liquids, gels and pastes carried in hand luggage are 100ml or less,” he added.

New routes recently announced at the airport include Montreal, which Air Transat will launch next summer, and Air Canada Rouge is to launch a new service to Toronto.

Wizz Air launched two new services to Vilnius and Lublin, and is to begin a new service to Bucharest from next year.

Blue Air will also start flying to the Romanian Capital – its first route from Glasgow Airport - from December 17 this year.

Figures out yesterday showed passenger numbers rose 12.2 per cent on the previous year during that month, according to European airport trade body ACI Europe, in its latest traffic report.

This placed it fourth in the category of airports which welcome between five and 10 million passengers a year.

It came in behind Gothenburg (16 per cent), Budapest (15 per cent), Porto (14.3 per cent) and ahead of Stuttgart, which had an 11 per cent rise.

And the airport reported its 30th consecutive month of growth in August when 878,515 passengers travelled through its doors.

It was the airport's busiest summer season in seven years, with more than three million passengers travelling through during June, July and August.