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682ft AMSL
3rd Jun 2003, 20:15
From www.lbia.co.uk

Passenger Records Shattered at Leeds Bradford Airport
3 June 2003

Leeds Bradford International Airport saw a record number of passengers using its facilities during May, breaking the previous record monthly passenger throughput by a phenomenal 20.8%. A total of 200,909 passengers used the airport in May, a 37.5% increase over May 2002, and in the process shattered the previous record throughput of 166,252 set in August 2002.

Yorkshire’s own low cost airline Jet2 accounted for 42,513 (21%) of the total passengers. The other two airlines at LBA which style themselves as low cost carriers – Ryanair operating to Dublin and FlyBe operating to Belfast – carried 18,634 (9%) and 9,723 (5%) respectively of the total passenger throughput during the month.

Managing Director Ed Anderson commented,

‘This is the most exciting time in Leeds Bradford’s history. A 37.5% year on year increase in traffic demonstrates the massive demand for flights from Leeds Bradford from right across the region. Furthermore, the fact that around 35% of our passengers are now able to fly with low cost carriers illustrates the way in which Leeds Bradford has reinvented itself. We are now able to offer a wide range of services from low cost carriers, holiday flights with all the major charter airlines, plus full service scheduled flights with airlines like bmi british midland, KLM and Eastern Airways.’

chrisleeds2003
4th Jun 2003, 06:12
excellent news for LBA... I'm surprised Easyjet and Ryanair (with their one service to Dublin) didn't utilise the potential for low cost flights to mainland Europe... Jet2 seem to be performing well. LBA will never be the size of Manchester, but it can certainly expand quite a lot more... it would help greatly if they had the parrallel taxiway though.

682ft AMSL
4th Jun 2003, 15:52
I think terminal & arpon capacity is more of a constraint for future expansion than runway capacity.

At the moment, despite the growth in passenger numbers, there has not been a proportionate increase in ATMS - in effect, we have really just substituted BACE J41s for Jet2 737s. Big impact on passenger no's, but no real effect on the number of take off and landings. There's no inbound holding or outbound holding delays to speak of and I believe a considerable amount of additional movements could be handled before this stopped being the case.

However, with check-in, central screening and the arrivals hall already creaking at the seams, it is unlikely that the passengers these extra movements would bring could be accomodated at the moment. Things are already in train though - a temporary check-in facility (alla East Mids) is being looked at for summer 2004.

In terms of the success of Jet2 in attracting passengers, its not too much of a surprise given the size of the catchment area. As you say though, why the likes of Easy et al didn't show any interest is a surprise.

682