LBA welcomes more than 4m passengers in 2017
Last year saw 4,078,069 passengers travel through Leeds Bradford Airport, which has now seen three years of positive year-onyear growth.
August was the busiest month for the travel hub, with 524,707 passengers flying through. The same month saw the airport record its busiest ever week, when more than 120,000 passengers flew out for the first time in its history.
Alicante was the favoured destination for Yorkshire’s travelling public, with 328,133 people travelling to the Costa Blanca.
With 33,024 scheduled flights to more than 70 direct destinations, 2017 saw Flybe’s inaugural flight to Dusseldorf in October, Ryanair add the Polish city of Wroclaw, as well as Jet2.com increase their overall capacity and announce a new route to La Rochelle in France. This year, the airport will welcome Thomas Cook back to Leeds Bradford Airport, with services to Dalaman, Antalya and Palma for Summer 18.
A number of changes took place in 2017, with the airport announcing David Laws as its new chief executive and AMP Capital acquiring the business in October.
Laws said: “We had a tremendous 2017 at LBA and these passenger figures show how the airport is going from strength-to-strength.
“There is a rising demand for air travel across Yorkshire and the surrounding regions, and our ambition is to meet that by offering the very best choice of destinations for both business and leisure passengers.
“Despite some disappointing setbacks, including the collapse of Monarch and a reduction in our BA service, we now have the widest choice of flights available and will continue our approach to secure additional routes to ensure the people of Yorkshire have an airport to be proud of and are connected to the world.”
Alex Sobel, MP for Leeds North West, added: “The airport’s success is shared with Leeds North West in the form of economic prosperity and employment opportunities and I hope that it continues to grow and prosper for many years to come.”
