THE airport has posted an increase in passenger numbers of 1.9 per cent in the first three months of the year compared with 2012.
The big boost came last month when 6 per cent more passengers flew compared with March last year.
Exactly 158,000 passengers flew through Ronaldsway in the first three months of the year, almost 3,000 more than last year.
The airport finished 2012 with a fall in traffic of 0.7 per cent for the year, and the first two months of 2013 continued in much the same vein with the flat trend recording a passenger decrease of just half of one per cent.
Routes to London and the North West performed best. North West traffic was up by almost 4,000 passengers – 2,500 of them in March – an increase of traffic to and from the region of 5.4 per cent. More than 4,600 additional passengers were carried on Liverpool rotes, with easyJet up by almost 9,700.
London routes saw 8,271 additional passengers during the first quarter of 2013.
Elsewhere, the picture was less rosy.
South West routes saw a drop of 3,600 passengers, a drop of 54 per cent. The Bristol service was suspended over the winter and Southampton dropped last year. Both are due to begin again in May.
The suspension of the Leeds/Bradford Citywing service meant that passengers to the North East fell by 1,800 or almost 60 per cent. Scotland fell by 20 per cent and the Midlands by 14 per cent.
Airport director Ann Reynolds said: ‘The 1.9 per cent increase for the quarter is against a background of the first quarter of 2012 increasing by 2.9 per cent, so it is particularly gratifying to see a consistent increase for the past two years over the period,’ she said.
‘I’m particularly pleased to see the London market responding well to increased capacity from Gatwick and especially that the BA London City route has recorded a healthy increase of 20 per cent during the quarter. With Luton now restarted, I would expect that London traffic will continue to grow at a good pace with a broad variety of services being offered to the three London destinations by Flybe, easyJet and BA CityFlyer.’
