Passengers down
15.07.09
Liverpool Airport handled 370,000 fewer passengers in the first half this year compared with the same period last year, the Post reports. They were lowest half-year passenger figures for the airport since 2005, and were blamed on the recession. The worst affected routes were those to Poland, which have suffered ‘significant declines’ in labour related traffic. The weakness of sterling also had an effect.
Between January and June 2009, 2.25m passengers passed through the airport, down on the 2.34m in 2006 and significantly fewer than the 2.6m passengers in the same period in both 2007 and 2008. However, the second quarter of 2009 showed an improvement (it was less bad than the first quarter) ahead of the crucial summer season. The later Easter was a factor as April’s volume only slipped 7%, while May and June were down 12% and 9% respectively – a significant improvement on the 20% drop seen in the first quarter of 2009.
Neil Pakey, deputy chief executive of Liverpool Airport's owner Peel Airports Group, said: ‘We are seeing signs of recovery. We have announced or launched 8 new routes recently.'
Despite the fall in passengers, the airport still attracts a large number of tourists to the city as the proportion of inbound visitors is at its highest level in the airport’s history. A quarter of its 5.3m annual passengers – around 1.3m – are inbound, which is more than double the 570,000 people in 2003, when 18% of passengers were visiting from overseas.
Mr Pakey said: ‘Our proportion of inbound passengers is about 25%, the UK average is nearer 10%. That is because Ryanair and easyJet are as good at selling abroad as they are here. We are the envy of a lot of airports, having both the two leading low-cost airlines. There is only Stansted in this country that can offer that.’
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