Very good news.
Taking the average of the first 9 months the decline rate in pax is -2.774%.
Total pax Jan-Sep 2011 (9months) is 1,869,507.
Given the decline from 08-09: -15%, 09-10: -12% and ytd 10-11: -2.774% then there is clear data showing an improvement.
I feel that taking the avg% growth of Aug/Sep 2011 and applying this to the period Oct-Dec 2011 gives us a very good measure of where we'll be in total pax 2011. This would give a figure for 2011 of: 2,384,661 (2010: 2,425,131) Decline -1.6971%.
A decline yes but a vast improvement in % terms compared to the previous two years.