august IOM pax.
As announced on Monday...
After July saw an increase of just five passengers over the same month in 2010 at Isle of Man Airport, August 2011 has recorded a slight increase over the August 2010 figure. 65,964 passengers passed through the Airport during the month, an increase of just 367, or a little over 0.5%. Although the first half of the month showed greater promise with a 1.5% increase, the continued squeeze on UK home budgets, has again flattened any expected growth for the peak summer months.
It was the Liverpool route that primarily boosted traffic for the month with 1,900 additional passengers flying with Flybe and easyJet, a 14% increase. Although there were 300 fewer passengers using the Manchester and Blackpool routes, the overall Northwest traffic was up by over 5%. Whilst Airport Director, Ann Reynolds, was pleased that an overall increase was recorded, she emphasized that market conditions, particularly for regional routes, remained relatively flat. ”August is one of our busiest months of the year and has, in the past, generated over 70,000 passengers, but this level has not been experienced in recent years," she said. "We were hopeful that we would see a more emphatic increase for August this year, but market conditions have remained very difficult for the airlines, as is the case for many UK regional airports. At the moment there is no indication of a resurgence of traffic and therefore to be able to maintain 2010 levels is a pretty solid outcome."
Although many of the regional routes from the Isle of Man experienced decreases, August saw improvements to traffic linking the Island with Birmingham, Belfast City, Dublin and Southampton. The Flybe link to the Midlands has begun to show consistent passenger level improvements during 2011, as has their more frequent service to Southampton. The 54% increase in the Manx2 Belfast City traffic confirms that virtually all the passengers using their discontinued Belfast International route last year have transferred to the more frequent City route. Aer Arann also had a good month with a 6.5% increase in Dublin traffic and their London City service averaging two thirds full for August, traditionally a quieter time for this business route.