Long haul flights drive passenger growth at Birmingham Airport

BIRMINGHAM Airport has achieved its 14 consecutive month of record growth as more airlines choose the hub as a base for their flights.

In total, 872,833 passengers were handled at the airport last month, up by 13.2% compared to the same month last year when the last record April was set.

As is becoming increasingly the case, it was the long-haul routes which experienced the greatest rise in demand, with 41.2% more passengers travelling on the flights compared to the same month last year.

However, short-haul routes were also popular, showing a 9.7% growth rate year-on-year.
 
Paul Kehoe, Chief Executive Officer at Birmingham Airport, said: “As we enter into the busy summer flight season, April’s figures are very encouraging and show that we are meeting the growing demand for long haul services.
 
“April was a very significant month seeing us announce two new direct scheduled services to China with Beijing Capital Airlines. We also welcomed the arrival of Czech Airlines to Birmingham Airport and Thomas Cook Airlines announced it will be increasing its base fleet to five aircraft from summer 2017.
 
“Our teams are now focusing on raising awareness of the large selection of carriers and routes which serve Birmingham Airport, whilst continuing to work hard to attract even more new airlines to the region.”
 
Scheduled traffic accounted for more than 92% of the total number of flights, with charter passengers making up the remaining 8%.
 
Scheduled traffic saw an increase of 17.8%, with significant year-on-year passenger growth to Madeira (+91.6%), Barcelona (+79.7%) and Reykjavik (+75%).
 
Charter destinations which saw growth were Fuerteventura (+81%), Malaga (+69.6%) and Alicante (+65.3%).