GLASGOW AIRPORT RECORDS ITS BUSIEST OCTOBER EVER
• 5.7% increase on October 2015 passenger numbers • EU scheduled traffic up 16%
Glasgow has reported its busiest October in 50 years after 884,350 passengers travelled through the airport’s doors last month, representing an annual increase of 5.7%.
International traffic was up 8.3% on last year due to strong demand for winter sun destinations, with Ryanair and Thomson Airways both introducing new routes last month. EU scheduled services were up by 16% and there was also significant demand for the airport’s long-haul routes to Florida and Dubai.
Celtic’s Champions League group game at home against Borussia Monchengladbach saw airline Germanwings add extra capacity to meet demand as thousands of German fans travelled to Glasgow.
Domestic traffic in October increased by 2.4% thanks to strong demand from both business and leisure travellers on London services. Regional traffic was also boosted by additional capacity on easyJet services to Bristol and Belfast and new routes from Flybe.
Amanda McMillan, managing director at Glasgow Airport, said: “It’s been another fantastic month for the airport in terms of passenger growth and route development, which included five new Ryanair destinations and our first-ever year round service to Cape Verde from Thomson Airways.
“In a year of many highs we recorded yet another with the 2016 October school break our busiest in a decade as more than 160,000 people travelled through the airport bound for their holidays.
”We are continuing to welcome an increasing number of visitors to Glasgow and Scotland. This in part is due to the city’s success in securing large scale events such as last week’s MOBO awards which help promote the inbound tourism potential of Glasgow and the wider city region.
“We are expecting a further increase in traffic later this month as the city prepares to host a number of major medical conferences. It’s also a big month for football as the Tartan Army sets off en masse for Wembley ahead of tonight’s England v Scotland game, while next week will see Braehead play host to the Le Gruyere AOP European Curling Championships.
“We expect to see an increase in demand across many of our EU scheduled services towards the end of the month as passengers head off for weekend breaks to explore traditional Christmas markets on routes such as Dusseldorf, Prague and Berlin.”
Ryanair introduced five new routes from Glasgow Airport last month to Brussels Charleroi, Alicante, Malaga, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria. The airline launched its first-ever base at Glasgow Airport in October 2014 and since then has carried over two million passengers.