Thousands of people watched the return of flights to two hugely popular holiday destinations at Southend Airport at the weekend.

More than 8,000 people tuned in to watch an exclusive livestream as Sunday marked the long-awaited return of flights to Alicante from Southend, alongside the new Paris route.

The Paris service is operating up to four times a week, with flights will departing on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays all year round. When the route was announced in May, it became the fifth destination easyJet had added to Southend Airport.

After the hotly-anticipated announcement of Alicante flights in August alongside a host of new routes added this summer, easyJet now operates flights to eight destinations from Southend.

Spotter Dedicated TV hosted the special livestream part of its inaugural celebrations, with an airport spokesman commenting: "Join us live as we broadcast the return of the much awaited Alicante route, with an extra added bonus of the Paris route.

"The step to recovery in full swing for London Southend Airport."

They added: "Thank you to everyone in the airport team for making the inaugural celebrations a flying success, come rain or shine! And thank you to everyone for choosing to fly London Southend."

The Alicante route is operating twice a week from Southend, departing on Thursdays and Sundays.

Hundreds of flight enthusiasts also tuned in to watch two easyJet flights take off for Palma de Mallorca and Malaga when the routes returned for summer 2023, while more than 10,000 watched the livestream of the last commercial flight of 2022 taking off.