Isle of Man Airport passenger numbers continue to struggle to recover
Thursday 02 September 2010
The Isle of Man Airport continued in July to make slow progress to regenerate the passenger numbers that had been decimated in the first half of the year. Last month again saw a fall in passenger numbers, but the shortfall on the July 2009 level closed once again with just 2% fewer passengers passing through Ronaldsway. Over 63,500 passengers used the Airport in July - 1,300 less than in July 2009. In June the deficit over last year was 2.6% and April and May were well into a double figure falls. Despite the closing of the gap on last year’s results, Airport Director Ann Reynolds was disappointed with the outturn for July.
“With the recession, the winter weather and the ash cloud behind us, we were frankly forecasting the recovery in passengers using the Airport to be quicker than has proven to be the case,” she admitted. “We had predicted a small increase for July as we expected that confidence would gradually return to the air travel industry and, whilst things are going in the right direction, we are not there yet. We are not alone with this and other airports are finding the return to growth also to be slower than expected.”
The air travel markets across all regions of the 20 air services that operate from the Island’s airport remain relatively flat. Much of this is due to both the private and government sectors being acutely aware of the need to tighten spending, and the number of projects that generate air travel to and from the Island have been substantially reduced. The Manx2.com routes to both Belfast airports have been particularly hard hit with Northern Ireland air travel down by over 30% in July. Growth in the vital North West traffic was small and both London and Midlands’ routes saw small decreases, the latter due to the withdrawal of the East Midlands service which had struggled with low traffic levels for some time, but compensated slightly by an increase in passengers to and from Birmingham.
However, there were some positive results with the combined traffic from Southampton, Gloucester and Bristol increasing passenger numbers from the South and South West by 12% and the Regency Travel and Freedom Holidays flights to Paris and the Ballearic Islands proving popular. Scottish traffic, in particular to and from Edinburgh, picked up during the month and strong growth for the Newcastle route created growth overall for traffic to North East England.
Ann Reynolds also admitted that the traffic lost during the first seven months of the year – almost 30,000 passengers - had now left an almost impossible task to achieve 2009 passenger levels for 2010. “We started the year with high hopes that a moderate 5% to 6% increase in passenger traffic could be generated during 2010,” she said. “We have periodically revised our forecasts and, in the light of the latest evidence of a slow recovery over the latter part of the 2010, we are now looking at a decrease this year of about 4%.”
On a positive note, the launch of what is perhaps one of the most unusual routes ever to be operated from the Island takes place at the beginning of August. A weekend service operated by Manx2.com linking the Island with the Isle of Anglesey has opened up a new opportunity for those looking for a weekend break to this delightful part of Wales and will also be an attractive option for visitors to the Isle of Man from North Wales. The flights will operate every Friday and Monday during August and early September.
Minister for Infrastructure, Phil Gawne, MHK emphasised the importance of maintaining the range of destinations linking the Island with as many regions of the UK and Ireland as possible. “We recognise that the principle routes to the North West and South East are key to developing the volume traffic to and from the Isle of Man,” he said. “However, of equal importance are the regional links as they are able to encourage the development of new markets for both leisure and business traffic to the Island.”
He went on to say: “These are certainly difficult times for the airline and airport part of the aviation industry. Nearly every week there is news of yet another travel company closing somewhere in the world. Over the last few months I have been meeting each the operators serving the Island and they have made me very much aware of the lack of recovery since the ash episode back in April and May. The previously usual high level of forward bookings, which the Manx passengers were well known for, has not yet returned. We certainly need more passengers on our routes as we start towards the winter schedule.”
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