Traffic down in March at Heathrow - but up at other airports

Traffic at London Heathrow was down 2.8% in March compared to the same month last year.

The airport also revealed it has lost its crown to Dubai Airport as having the highest number of international passengers over a two-month period for the first time. The world’s third busiest airport welcomed 5.8 million travellers in March, despite seats per aircraft increasing by 1.9%, but passengers per aircraft decreased 3% to 146.6.

Heathrow says the reduction and load factors, reflect the shift of the Easter holidays into April this year, from March. Heathrow CEO Colin Matthews, says: “Passenger numbers were in line with expectations in March, consistent with the Easter bank holiday moving from March last year to April this year.

“Dubai’s announcement that it has overtaken Heathrow in the last two months shows that the UK will soon no longer have the world’s number one airport for international passenger traffic."

London Gatwick meanwhile, welcomed 2.7 million passengers in March, an increase of 5.1% on 2013, or 131,500 passengers, more than 2013.

Stewart Wingate, London Gatwick chief executive, says: “This has been a successful and exciting year for Gatwick that has seen steady growth, the completion of spending over £1 billion on improving the passenger experience and offering new routes that satisfy the demands of business and leisure travellers."

Edinburgh Airport enjoyed a 4.9% increase in travellers in March, with more than 730,000 travellers using the Scottish airport.  Growth at Glasgow Airport has also continued with almost 532,000 people travelling through the airport in March, a rise of 4.1% compared to the same period last year. Copenhagen Airport's passenger numbers for March were up by 4.8% year on year, with close to two million passing through, which was a new record for the month.

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easyJet increases flights to Tenerife this winter

BUDGET airline easyJet its winter schedule from Southend Airport, including an increase in flights to Tenerife.

The airline will have 28,000 seats on sale for travel between October 26 2014 and February 28 2015 and services to Tenerife will be extended.

There will be just under 2000 flights in and out of Southend to 12 destinations across the UK and Europe.

The most popular easyJet destinations for next winter from London Southend are expected to be Tenerife, Amsterdam, Alicante, Barcelona, Venice and Geneva with holidaymakers well catered for with just under two thousand seats to choose from on flights to winter sun, city breaks or beach destinations.

Following the success of easyJet’s flights to Tenerife, its newest destination from Southend which launched in December last year, the services will be extended this Winter.

The first flight of the season takes off on September 16 allowing an additional 23,000 passengers to escape the shorter days and chillier months and jet off to the guaranteed sunshine of the island each year.

Sophie Dekkers, easyJet’s UK Director, said: “easyJet has launched its winter schedule from London Southend offering flights on 12 different routes between October 2014 and February 2015.

“When developing our flying schedule we consider many factors including customer feedback and holiday trends to ensure we’re offering the right combination of flights at a great price.”

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Brussels Airlines: passenger growth continues in March

Last March, 491,037 passengers flew with Brussels Airlines. That is an increase of 5.6% compared to the same month last year. 27.1% of their passengers combined two Brussels Airlines flights, with a connection in Brussels Airport.

Brussels Airlines attracted 4.3% more passengers on its European flights, while their African flights between welcomed 8.6% more passengers. Thanks to a capacity increase, the airline's US flights welcomed 29.1% more passengers.

Among all passengers, 72.9% of them flew between Brussels and one of Brussels Airlines’ destinations. The other 27.1% combined two Brussels Airlines flights, with a connection in Brussels Airport.

Due to the fact that the Easter holidays, traditionally known as a very busy travel period, started last year in March and this year in April, the seat load factor decreased last month. Moreover, the Carnival holidays which traditionally attract less business travelers, fell this year in March instead of February.

In addition to this scheduled flight activity, Brussels Airlines operated many holiday flights for tour operators and incentive agencies. Passenger figures for this charter activity are not included in the monthly figures of this press release.

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