CAA January Stats
BFS handled 364,465 passengers in January 2018, a 3.9% decrease on 2017. This is almost exclusively due to a 30,000 drop in passengers using BFS-LGW following Ryanair's exit from the route.
Domestic Routes;
Half of domestic routes experienced a fall in passengers in January; EDI (-3%), GLA (-5%), LGW (-38%), LPL (-4%), MAN (-4%).
The other half saw an increase in passenger numbers; BHX (+1%), BRS (+1%), LTN (+16%), NCL (+4%), STN (+16%)
International Routes;
January was a very good month for international passenger numbers, with several routes exhibiting double-digit growth.
SXF saw the largest fall in passenger numbers (-23%), though this is due to Ryanair reducing the frequency from x3 to x2 weekly. This move has seen the load factor on the route jump 10% to 85%.
Ski travellers to the Alps opted for GVA (+5%) over LYS (-12%), but ski passenger numbers increased overall.
There was impressive growth on sun routes; ACE (+15%), AGP (+6%), ALC (+8%), FAO (+41%), TFS (+7%).
Eastern European routes in general did well in January. Wizz Air saw a 3% increase in passengers to VNO, representing a 90% load factor. Ryanair also saw growth on their routes; GDN (+22%), WMI (+4%), WRO (+8%). KRK on the other hand saw a 5% drop in passenger numbers despite Wizz Air cancelling their route to nearby KTW. Despite this, the route still had an average load factor of 93% between easyJet and Ryanair.
easyJet saw impressive growth on their route to AMS (+17%), and Ryanair saw a 6% increase in passenger numbers to BGY. In addition, Ryanair's new route to MLA saw 2,455 passengers in January, which gives a 72% load factor.
Norwegian carried 2,317 passengers on BFS-SWF, averaging 129 passengers and a 68% load factor (10% lower than EDI-SWF). Interestingly, when United operated BFS-EWR, they had an average January load factor of 69% (116 pax).