The boss at Norwich International airport has hit back at claims that Britain has too many airports and that some, including Norwich, faced an uphill battle to justify their existence.

Paul Kehoe, chief executive of Birmingham airport, said that Britain has twice as many airports as it needs, which was the legacy of a short-lived boom in budget travel, and questioned whether airports such as Norwich, Blackpool, Doncaster and Middlesbrough were sustainable.

Many regional terminals are suffering a hangover after expanding in response to a low-cost travel boom before the 2008 financial crisis.

The number of passengers passing through UK airports peaked at 240m in 2007 and has since fallen to 221m. Norwich's usage has halved since its peak. In 2007, Norwich had 699,000 passengers and in 2012 397,000.

But regional airports have immediately hit back, saying they boosted local economies but were held back by air fare taxes.

Andrew Bell, chief executive Norwich airport, said: 'Norwich airport was not simply built for the 'low-cost boom' that preceded the financial crisis in 2008 and its established existence before and after this period underlines its importance and sustainability for the benefit of its region.

'With most of the airports in the UK being privately owned, it is, of course, the market that will justify the continuing existence of one airport over another. I agree that there are airports in the UK whose continued existence may be less than certain in the unforgiving glare of market forces, but Norwich International is certainly not one of them.'

He added: 'Unfortunately, when trying to draw conclusions about an airport's sustainability based solely on passenger numbers, it is easy for the casual observer to miss the other fundamental aspects of some airport's business models. In Norwich's case, the business has diverse and strong foundations.'

Mr Kehoe said that there were 20 airports handling commercial flights in an area between Leeds and Southampton. 'Everybody's got an airport,' Mr Kehoe said. 'Is that sustainable in the long-term?'

He said that in economic terms there were only eight British cities that needed an airport, and added: 'To be blunt, you've got to look long and hard at the likes of Blackpool, Doncaster, Durham and Norwich.'