August is a month of records for Birmingham Airport

BIRMINGHAM Airport has seen the busiest ever month in its 77-year history with almost 1.3 million passengers travelling through the hub.

August saw the airport handle a total of 1,285,911 passengers, up by 13% compared to the same month last year – equivalent to an additional 147,000 people.

The airport also recorded its busiest ever day – August 26 – when a total of 45,906 passengers passed through the terminal.

Both long haul and short haul traffic saw significant passenger growth, with long haul up by 17.2% and short haul up by 12.5% year-on-year.

Paul Kehoe, CEO at Birmingham Airport, said: “August was not only our busiest ever month but it was also the fourth consecutive month this year in which we’ve recorded over a million passengers. It’s also our eighteen consecutive month of record breaking growth demonstrating that travellers are taking advantage of Birmingham Airport’s ease of access and choice of flights.

“September is expected to also be a busy month as we welcome back business travellers after the summer holidays and those choosing to go on holiday outside of the school holiday period. We look forward to welcoming these passengers as we enter the autumn travel period.”

Scheduled traffic accounted for 87% of the total passenger volume for August and saw a 25.3% growth compared to the same month last year. Charter traffic accounted for 13% of the total.

Destinations which saw the greatest year-on-year growth rate were those in the Caribbean, Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Scheduled destinations with a significant increase in traffic were Madrid (+362.5%), Heraklion (+179.2%), Malta (+93.5%), Biarritz (+93.1%), Menorca (+68.6%) and Palma de Mallorca (+63%).

Charter destinations with significant growth were Gerona (+252.5%), Fuerteventura (+141.3%), Skiathos (+97.7%), Venice (+60.6%), Alicante (+44.6%) and Lanzarote (+35.5%).