Passengers up 3%
22.07.08
Passengers at Prestwick Airport continue to climb despite a downturn in the travel industry. A total of 222,940 travellers travelled through the Ayrshire hub last month, up 3 percent on the previous year. The airport also had its busiest ever day, on Friday June 27, with 68 flights carrying in excess of 10,000 passengers - the first time it had reached this number - on the first day of the Scottish school holidays.
Airport Chief Executive Mark Rodwell said: ‘These are strong numbers in the current environment. The strength of our key airline partners and our ability to maintain an efficient operating and capital cost base are crucial. New services introduced in the last 12 months have provided greater choice to passengers and helped to maintain overall passenger numbers as markets change.’
The major factor in the positive year-on-year variance was a 36 percent rise in the number of charter passengers using the airport - 19,348 in June against 14,224 in June 2007. Prestwick's main charter operator, Seguro Holidays, increased capacity this year by using larger aircraft, although it did have problems over the weekend.
A total of 643,269 passengers have passed through the airport since January, up 1 percent on a year earlier. Rival Glasgow Airport, operated by BAA, reported passengers down 4.9% in June - with its year to date passengers down 4.8 percent, although on a much higher base. When the results of the two airports are combined, the overall market contracted by around 37,000 passengers (3.4 percent) in June.
Prestwick Airport handled 1,935 tonnes of air freight in June - down 37 percenton June 2007. Year-to-date freight volume is down 12 percent, following Polar's decision to cease operating within the UK from early June. This had a major impact on the Prestwick June result, compounded Cargolux and Panalpina volumes also down on last year.
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