January Weather in UK Sends Airport Traffic Plummeting - Airport Press Release

Just when the Isle of Man Airport was showing signs of recovery in passenger traffic, the snow arrived with a vengeance in the UK, sending an expected 3% increase plummeting to a 7.6% decrease in January. It is estimated that the unprecedented snowfalls, which closed many UK airports for days, wiped over 5,000 passengers from the January total for the Airport as the expected total of almost 50,000 passengers forecast to pass through the terminal tumbled to just 44,600.

The disruption that led to so many flights being cancelled was totally due to the closure of airports at the UK end of the Island’s routes. “Throughout the weather chaos in the first half of January we were able to maintain 100% operational integrity,” explained Ann Reynolds, Airport Director. “Whilst many major UK airport destinations were forced to close for a long period to allow for snow clearance, Ronaldsway remained open for flights throughout. It is very disappointing indeed to have two months where we should have had some growth in traffic hit by such extreme weather at our destinations”.

Airports particularly badly hit were Manchester, Gatwick, Leeds and the Scottish destinations. Gatwick decreased by over 2,600 passengers, a fall of 26% whilst Manchester lost 1,450. Glasgow saw a 35% decrease and Leeds was down by 26%. Most other services suffered decreases of between 5% and 20%, but six routes actually recorded increases. Manx2’s routes to Belfast City and Newcastle saw 10.6 and 6.6% increases respectively and Flybe’s Liverpool route generated over 500 more passengers than in January 2009. The Aer Arann service to London City, which celebrated one year of operation on 19th January, more than doubled the passengers carried on the route in January last year and, with perhaps a touch of irony, the Geneva service, taking passengers to the snow-clad Alps for skiing holidays, was 18% up and almost 80% full!

Airlines also suffered a period of poor forward bookings during the first half of January, indicating that many passengers had decided to wait until the weather had improved before making their travel arrangements, and reservations remained slow for the remainder of the month. “There was clearly a degree of nervousness from some travellers about committing to booking flights, but thankfully this has picked up once again and we are hopeful that February will return to a period of moderate growth,” added Ann.

Despite this disappointing start to the year, an increase in passengers of almost 5% is currently predicted for 2010, continuing the underlying trend of steady recovery. As Minister of Transport, David Anderson stressed, the objective will be to achieve sustainable growth. “We have achieved a great deal in 2009 by retaining our routes and our airlines have stuck steadfastly by us during a lean year,” he said. “I believe that there is now the opportunity to improve both passenger volumes and load factors on our network to form a firm base for sustainable future development.”

Please click below to access the Monthly Air Traffic Summary for January 2009.

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