September CAA stats:
Terminal passengers: 10,610 (compared to 11,756 last month, 3,199 passengers in September 2020 and 14,372 in September 2019)- Aberdeen: 1,759 (up 102% v Sep last year & up 15% v Sep 2019)
- Belfast City: 797 (up 102% v last yr)
- Bristol: 384
- Jersey: 577 (up 232% v Sep last year & up 49% v Sep 2019)
- Heathrow: 1,402 (up 377% v Sep last year & best month yet)
- Newquay: 519 (up 38% v Sep last year)
- Alicante: 1,668 (1,775 in August)
- Amsterdam: 587 (down 30% v Sep last year & down 95% v Sep 2019)
- Corfu: 797 (495 in August)
- Faro: 991 (702 in August)
- Palma: 995 (1,161 in August)
There were also 562 transfer passengers not included in the above figures but as Eastern pulled out at the start of September, the vast majority of these must have been Loganair passengers transiting between Bristol and Aberdeen.
Aberdeen is growing year on year but has dropped 35% from August, reflecting Eastern's withdrawal and the price increases. Loads are holding up at nearly 18 per flight (23 if you include the Bristol passengers) which is very strong compared to what has been seen over the past 5 years. Belfast is also up year-on-year but down compared to August, however still seems to be performing well. Perhaps no surprise that Bristol has been pulled as numbers (excluding charters) on this route on the last 5 months have been 69, 362, 350, 445 and 384 - this is about 7 passengers per flight and must be unsustainable with the loss of the Bristol-Aberdeen transfer passengers now that Loganair have restored their direct Bristol-Aberdeen service. Heathrow numbers continue to show gradual improvement (up 18% v August) and are the highest since the reintroduction of the service but are still below expectations. As expected, Jersey and Newquay were both a bit down on August due to fewer rotations but loads on both routes were the strongest they have been all year.
Hard to judge Amsterdam, 587 passengers is the best month of the year but I think KLM only ran 18 flights in September compared to around 160 a month in pre-covid times and it is hard to see us getting back to 10,000 passengers a month any time soon. Ryanair carried 4,411 passengers in September versus 4,133 in August which is encouraging although it is hard to understand what passenger numbers and loads should be right now. However looking at August (September rotations not yet available), Teesside actually had higher loads for Alicante than either Leeds or Newcastle!