MAG reports traffic growth in 2015
One of the reasons MAG airports are growing faster than many other UK airports is that they have the spare capacity to be able to handle new services.
2015 was London Stansted Airport’s busiest calendar year since 2007, as 22.57 million passengers travelled through the terminal, an increase of 2.6 million passengers (13%) on 2014.
Meanwhile, at Manchester Airport (above), the total number of passengers for the 2015 calendar year hit 23.12m – an increase of 5.2% on the total for 2014.
Growth at both airports was bolstered by exceptionally busy festive periods in December.
Last month was Manchester Airport’s busiest December and Christmas on record, with 1.51m people flying through the UK’s third biggest airport – a 5.2% increase on December 2014.
Whilst the airport was at its busiest, it was also at its best for passengers, as it received its best customer service scores on record. December saw 96% of customers rating their overall departure experience as “good, very good or excellent”, and 94% saying the same for their arrivals experience.
Meanwhile, 1.71m passengers used London Stansted, an increase of 9.2 per cent on the previous year, making it the second busiest December on record and the 21st month of continuous year-on-year growth for the airport. The month also saw the highest ever load factor for any December with an average of 83.2% of all available seats occupied on each flight, surpassing the previous best of 81.5% set in 2014.
Another development this year at London Stansted was exceptionally strong growth in domestic traffic with passenger numbers up by 50% in 2015, primarily driven by a significant increase in capacity on Scottish routes with Ryanair and EasyJet. Attracting long haul services is key target for Stansted and 2015 saw the start of new services to Las Vegas, Orlando and Cancun.
At East Midlands Airport, 7.7% more passengers travelled in December compared to the same month last year, with an increase in passengers due to increased frequency and capacity on routes over the winter period. The 202,757 people using the airport in December took total passengers for the year to 4.4m.
Bournemouth Airport handled 707,168 passengers in 2015, of which 31,427 came in December.
Andrew Harrison, Managing Director at Stansted Airport, said: “The last 12 months have been another exciting and transformational period for Stansted with more rapid growth in passenger numbers and a host of significant changes taking place around the airport.”
Ken O’Toole, Managing Director at Manchester Airport, said: “Looking ahead, we have some very exciting new routes already confirmed to start in 2016, including to Beijing with Hainan Airlines, plus Boston and Los Angeles with Thomas Cook Airlines.
“We continue to look to expand the route network and connect the North to the rest of the world."
Andy Cliffe, Managing Director at East Midlands Airport, said “2015 was a special year for East Midlands Airport, as we celebrated our 50th birthday and completed the £12 million redevelopment of our terminal. Looking ahead, 2016 promises to be yet another great year.”
Key new routes launched or announced by MAG in 2015 include:-
Manchester long haul: Beijing, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami
Stansted long haul: Las Vegas, Orlando, Cancun
Short haul: Azores, Deauville, Castellon, Stuttgart, Porto, Vienna, Gothenberg, Reykjavik
Manchester
London Stansted
East Midlands
Bournemouth
December 2015 passengers
1,509,721
1,706,606
202,757
31,427
% change
year on year
+5.2%
+9.2%
+7.7%
+70.7%
2015 total passengers
23,117,473
22,566,793
4,448,031
707,168
% change
year on year
+5.2%
+13.0%
-1.3%
+6.7%