PASSENGER numbers at the island’s airport are keeping pace with last year’s figures.
November recorded a slight increase of just under one per cent over November 2010, with 55,652 passengers passing through Ronaldsway, just over 500 more than the same month last year.
The last five months have seen an increase over the same period last year of just 0.4 per cent.
By contrast, more than 65,000 used the airport in November 2007, the year before the collapse of a number banks precipitated the financial crisis and the downturn in the world economy.
Airport director Ann Reynolds said November 2011 had produced a ‘solid performance’.
She said: ‘Naturally after the recent years where, like the whole of the UK and European air travel industry, we have seen a decline in passengers, we would now like to see more positive growth.
‘However, given the current state of the UK and European economy, I am pleased that we are still achieving – and generally slightly exceeding – 2010 passenger levels.
‘In fact, for seven out of the last eight months we have topped last year’s monthly throughput and, most importantly, retained all of our scheduled service routes.’
The additional 1,070 passengers that travelled on the daily Flybe service between the Isle of Man and Southampton in November provided a substantial boost to the numbers.
This was the first time for some years that the Southampton route, which continues on to Brussels, has operated year round. Again, it was the Flybe and easyJet services to Liverpool John Lennon Airport that saw the biggest increase, with more than 14,000 passengers flying, the highest November figure for six years and 15 per cent more than in November 2010.
This meant that all North West routes from the island, including Flybe’s Manchester and the Manx2.com Blackpool routes, notched up a 4.4 per cent gain over 2010.
Another improved route was the Aer Arann London City service which saw a 14.5 per cent increase and, while traffic between the island and London was slightly down, 47 per cent more passengers flew to and from the South and South West region of the UK.
But Ms Reynolds issued a word of caution for the approaching winter months.
She said: ‘We do expect this winter to again be a difficult one for the airline industry and our airlines have introduced some reductions in service frequencies.
‘This is bound to affect our traffic over the leaner months, especially during the early part of 2012.’
