After ten years in charge, Ed Anderson, the managing director of Leeds Bradford International Airport, has announced he is to stand down.

Mr Anderson will remain in charge of the recently privatised airport until a successor is appointed.

He was recently named as the new chairman of Bradford-based Yorkshire Building Society and serves as a non-executive director on the board of fellow Bradford company Kelda.

Mr Anderson said: "I have been the managing director of the airport for ten years during which time passenger throughput has trebled from 1 million to 3 million per year.

"There has been considerable investment in the terminal and other facilities and the North's premier low-cost airline, Jet2.com, has become firmly established with its head office at Leeds Bradford Airport.

"I am immensely proud of what has been achieved at the airport by its staff over the past ten years.

"Bridgepoint, the new owner, has very exciting plans for the coming years which I fully support and which will be to the significant benefit of the regional economy."

The recently-appointed chairman of Leeds-Bradford International Airport, Sir Graham Hall, paid tribute to the outgoing managing director.

He said: "I have enormous admiration for everything Ed has achieved at the airport. I fully understand his reasons for wishing to make a change at this point in his career and I am pleased that he will stay on until a successor is appointed."

Sir Graham said a team of headhunters had been established to find a successor to Mr Anderson and that the airport's board anticipated an appointment within the next few months.