Airport Ends Year on High with Release of Latest Passenger Numbers
Aberdeen International Airport has ended 2017 on a high with the release of December’s passenger figures today. Over 238 000 passengers travelled from the major transport hub in December: an increase of 3.56% versus the same month the previous year. The increase came despite adverse weather conditions, both locally and in other destinations. Airfield staff successfully maintained steady operations during some of the worst weather and coldest conditions seen in seven years.
Domestic and international traffic was up 4.66% and 8.7% respectively due to continued and strong demand for a number of new and existing winter services including winter sun destinations, Malaga, Alicante and Tenerife. Helicopter traffic saw a decrease of 11.64% versus December 2016.
The total passenger increase reported in December marks the eighth consecutive month of growth for the airport. The full year results were also released alongside December’s figures, showing that 3,135,325 passengers used the airport in 2017 - an increase of 1.86% from 3,078,089 passengers in 2016.
Carol Benzie, managing director of Aberdeen International Airport, said: “We have continued to see a steady growth in total passenger numbers throughout 2017 which has been predominantly driven by an increase in our fixed-wing traffic. During 2017 we launched four new international leisure routes, namely Alicante, Malaga and Faro with Ryanair, and Riga with airBaltic.”
“Domestic fixed-wing traffic has driven much of the total passenger increases which has, in part, been due to chartered services being used by offshore workers to reach destinations such as Sumburgh and Wick, to then connect offshore via helicopter. This has, as a result, contributed to the decrease in helicopter passengers travelling directly from Aberdeen. In February, Flybe introduced its Aberdeen – London Heathrow route, bringing the weekly connections to the capital to 95 per week.
“These end of year results give us confidence heading in 2018, when we will launch two new leisure routes to Malta, with Ryanair, and Reus, with TUI. We are also looking ahead to the completion of the second phase of our terminal transformation project which will bring significant improvements to our facilities from summer.”