Fall In Air Passengers Blamed On Poor Weather

A sharp fall in airline passenger figures last month has been blamed on bad weather and bank holiday disruption.

Airport chiefs expected a modest 3.5 per cent decrease compared with a year ago, after recent months showed the decline prompted by the economic downturn was slowing.

But they claimed wet and windy conditions — which delayed flights over the final weekend in August — were responsible for a heavy 5.3 per cent loss (3,670 people) borne out in the latest figures.

Isle of Man Airport director Ann Reynolds said she was ‘disappointed’ by the drop from 69,222 flyers in August 2008 to 65,552 last month, as it is traditionally the busiest time of the year.

She said: ‘The economic downturn continues to affect the whole of the aviation industry.

‘But we were hopeful our peak month of August would reflect the recent trends of a recovery in passenger numbers.

‘The Island, like the UK, has not experienced the best weather during August and this has perhaps turned people’s heads towards warmer climates, despite the economic situation.

‘Operational disruption due to the weather at the end of the month compounded this effect.’

The hardest-hit routes were Luton, Southampton and Glasgow, which lost a third of passengers on average.

Operators Flybe and Loganair cut the frequency and capacity of flights on these routes last year in response to falling demand.

Numbers on Manx2’s Belfast International route were down by almost a quarter.

Loganair’s Edinburgh route was down by almost a fifth and losses were also recorded to Gatwick (16.6 per cent), Dublin (13.3 per cent) and Manchester (12 per cent).

Newcastle and Birmingham suffered much smaller drops than expected (13 per cent and 6.5 per cent) after Eastern Airways pulled out of the Isle of Man.

This was thanks to Manx2’s replacement Newcastle route and Flybe’s increased Birmingham services.

The big success story was Aer Arann’s London City service, filling the gap left by VLM, which saw almost four-and-a-half times as many people use the route (from 936 to 5,075).

Travellers to Blackpool went up by a quarter and there were smaller increases for Gloucester (9.9 per cent), Liverpool (3.7 per cent) and Leeds (2.1 per cent).

Services to the Channel Islands on Blue Islands were holding steady, with a loss of only eight passengers (down from 770 to 762).

Transport Minister David Anderson MHK said he remained ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the future.

He said: ‘August was not as good as we had hoped, but the underlying trend still shows a gradual recovery.

‘As businesses return after the summer holiday period, we are hopeful the vital business traffic that airlines need as the foundation for their routes will improve in September.’