Infratil Airports Europe Monthly Overview – September 2008
21 October 2008
Infratil Airports Europe September 2008 operational figures are made available here
Glasgow Prestwick Airport
Glasgow Prestwick handled 214,436 passengers in September. This brings the year-to-date passenger total to 1,372,187, slightly ahead of the equivalent period last year.Scheduled passenger traffic showed a year-on-year increase for the fifth consecutive month, although charter traffic was down 56% against last year. This resulted in the month’s passenger total falling 4% on September 2007.
During the month Glasgow Abbotsinch recorded an 11% fall in passenger numbers, with its year-to-date total down 5.4% on last year.
The drop in charter traffic was due to the unexpected suspension of flying on September 10 by Seguro, the main charter operator at Glasgow Prestwick.
Seguro’s cessation of trading was brought about by the collapse of Futura Airways, which operated more than 80% of their flight schedule.
There remains a strong market for charter services out of Glasgow Prestwick and discussions are being progressed with other operators which may wish to meet this demand in summer 2009.
Despite well-documented challenges in the market Ryanair continue to expand its network. The previously announced new services to Malaga, Faro and Tenerife will commence with the winter schedule and are showing strong forward bookings.
Aer Arann will take up the Cork route at the end of October and Ryanair has announced it will serve Turin as a ski destination over the winter months, with Grenoble flights also operating for the third season in a row.
To cater for future passenger growth the Board has approved a £1.7 million development of the terminal departures lounge.
Preliminary work has commenced and major construction will take place during winter. New and expanded retail facilities, improved seating and new toilets will feature in the design.
Glasgow Prestwick handled 1,326 tonnes of freight during the month, down 47% on last September.
This is roughly in line with August’s year-on-year performance, with the absence of Atlas / Polar services continuing to be responsible for the shortfall in monthly volumes.
The year-to-date freight volume of 10,277 tonnes is 23% down on the same period in 2007.
Kent International Airport
Kent International handled 1,373 tonnes of freight in September, down 24% on the prior year total but up 27% against August’s performance.Freight operators EgyptAir, Cargolux and Intavia all delivered strong year-on-year improvements of 68%, 45% and 56% respectively.
MK Airlines, the airport’s previous largest customer, made eight appearances during the month although its volume of freight was down 78% against September 2007.
The year-to-date freight volume of 8,773 tonnes is 6% down on the equivalent period in 2007.
Seguro’s announcement that they had ceased trading meant that the airport lost its main charter operator Kent Escapes.
While this led to a fall in year-on-year and year-to-date passenger performance, the flights that did operate during September – including the final Kent Escapes flights - achieved extremely high load factors, again demonstrating the market potential.
Lübeck Airport
Lübeck Airport handled 45,314 passengers in September, down 14% on last year and roughly in line with August’s result. Capacity over the month was down 18% on September 2007.The year-to-date passenger total of 295,023 is 14% down on the equivalent period last year, and therefore also roughly consistent with capacity.
A new daily domestic service to Frankfurt Hahn will be launched by Ryanair with the winter schedule.
Ryanair have also reduced some of their Stansted winter capacity with the result that capacity will be about 20% up on last winter, rather than the 33% increase which would have resulted from the original winter schedule.
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