June 2011 passenger figures
Hello Pete,
The airport's own stats give a more comprehensive breakdown and show that the 18,000 fewer passengers seen in June 2011 vis-a-vis June 2010 are entirely the result of fewer charter and scheduled domestic customers.
There were 12.42% fewer charter punters though charter flights were down by 17.33%, and 6.25% fewer scheduled domestic customers with this type of flight down by 13.98%. Conversely, scheduled international passenger numbers were up by just under 1% though flights in this sector were up by 5.44%.
The CAA stats show that overall there were 4.6% fewer flights across the board in June 2011 with, as you say, a 3.1% drop in passenger numbers.
BRS's passenger numbers are still up by 2.48% (according to the airport's figures) for the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year though atms are down by a similar amount which is usually the best way round, though of course available seats are the real guide and it looks from Mayfly (not a completely accurate tool) that available seats for much of July may have been down by around 3-6% against last year. If that is the case BRS will do well to be only one or two points to the bad in this month's passenger figures.
Although BRS came through the recession better than most regional airports it's actually been stuck on a bit if a plateau in passenger numbers for the past five years, following its meteoric climb in the first five years of this century.
2006 saw 5.71 mppa, 2007 5.88, 2008 6.23, 2009 5.61, 2010 5.72. This year may finish broadly the same as 2010.
There have been optimistic public noises emanating from senior management, including the CEO, that 2012 will see an upturn and the arrival of new airlines has been forecast, though perhaps not based airlines. Maybe the commencement of the major expansion might be a catalyst for substantial upward movement, assuming the last-minute attempt by the objectors to derail it is thwarted.