December Pax
December's passenger figures show an increase of 16.7% over 2006 at 377,929, bringing the total for 2007 to 5,414,299 which is a very creditable 14.5% increase on '06.
Penny Coates is reported as saying "The challenge is for us to build on this fantastic performance"; with recent events at BHX and the continued reduction in the IT sector, I think this is somewhat of an understatement, with 2008 probably going to show little or no growth.
The greatest proportion of the past year's increase has been due to FR's dramatic expansion of routes from EMA, and I suspect there will be little or nothing from them in the near future with their expansion from the Midlands now likely to be firmly focused at Birmingham.
It has been obvious for years that Easy have no wish to expand at EMA and Baby seem to be just treading water, so I think the best Penny and her colleagues can hope for is a year of consolidation! Perhaps they could turn their attention to the freight side of the airport's business which seems to be in need of some impetus of late?