Aberdeen International Airport Reports increase in passenger numbers for March 2017
Aberdeen International Airport has reported an increase in passenger numbers after 247,000 passengers travelled through its doors in March representing an increase of 1% compared to the same period last year.
The airport’s continued success in securing a number of new routes contributed to a 4.3% increase in international traffic whilst the total number of domestic passengers increased by 2.4%. Helicopter traffic was down 11%.
In recent months the airport has welcomed the return of Ryanair which introduced direct flights to Malaga and Alicante, and March saw the launch of Flybe’s new Heathrow service. The airline will operate three daily flights to what is the UK’s only hub airport. Latvian airline AirBaltic will launch direct flights to Riga in May.
Carol Benzie, Managing Director of Aberdeen International Airport, said: “We have taken a great deal of encouragement from our performance over the past three months. It was apparent at the end of 2016 that the decline was slowing and whilst it is great to see our passenger figures for March return to growth we are still operating in what remains an extremely challenging marketplace.
“Despite this, we remain focused on growing our route network. Later this month we will attend the annual Routes Europe conference in Belfast along with more than 100 airlines. We will be promoting the city and making the very strong case for airlines to add further capacity in Aberdeen.
“Alongside our efforts in route development our multi-million pound terminal transformation project is making excellent progress and passengers will start to see some major changes in the coming months. This includes new domestic and international baggage reclaim area and our new Northern Lights Executive Lounge which will open in July.”