BRS has had a phenomenal run for more than a decade and it is inevitable that the existing comprehensive route network would reach the stage where new destinations become more and more difficult to find, and in the severe economic maelstrom in which we find ourselves new routes are going to be more elusive still.
In passenger number terms BRS has been going very well in 2008. It is one of the few airports in the UK that has seen percentage rises in passenger numbers every month this year until and including October, and October’s admittedly modest gain of just under one per cent was achieved despite the loss of the significant XL route network.
I regard BRS’s peer airports on the mainland as EMA, LPL and NCL as each one is in the 5-6 mppa bracket, along with BRS.
BRS handled 6.32 million pax in the 12-month period ending 31 October 2008, up 8.7% on the same period last year. EMA’s figures are 5.72 million up 7.9% on 2007; LPL 5.43 million up 0.1% on 2007; NCL 5.09 million down 10.3% on 2007. You also mentioned LBA – its figures are 2.91 million up 1.4% on 2007.
It will be seen that by this measure BRS’s year has been broadly similar to EMA but better than LPL and considerably better than NCL.
The coming winter will inevitably see a significant drop in passenger numbers at BRS with fewer charter flights and a marked reduction in rotations by easyJet in particular, but I doubt that many, if any, airports will see much growth this winter.
Next summer’s easyJet timetable seems similar to summer 2008 and the last time I looked Ryanair’s summer timetable appears to have enough work to keep their two based aircraft fully employed. In the current climate these things might be looked on as a positive.
Rumours have been floating around on a BRS unofficial message board that FR will add two more aircraft in the early part of next year. If that is the case, and I have no firm evidence that it is, there would no doubt be some new routes to keep the additional aircraft occupied. Against this is FR’s condemnation of the increased UK apd announced this week with the airline saying it will now enter into discussions with regional airports ‘about the future viability of passenger traffic and growth in the light of this increased cost’.
These are very unusual times and probably BRS’s priority is to retain the carriers, routes and passengers it already has until the economy begins to improve. I’m sure that behind the scenes though the management is always looking to the future and ever on the lookout to expand services.
Incidentally, unlike his predecessors going back to Dear Old Les, the new MD does not seem to have put himself about much in the local news media, unless I have missed all his appearances/interviews. In fact, I’ve never seen him on the local telly at all.