ISLE of Man Airport passenger figures have matched 2009 levels for the second consecutive month.

It is an indication that things are beginning to pick up following a lengthy spell of decline.

There was again a 0.07 per cent increase in September, as 63,473 passengers passed through the airport -  43 more than in September 2009.

This repeated the 45 passenger, 0.07 per cent increase in the August figures.

Airport director Ann Reynolds, while remaining cautious about the September results, is confident that this second slight increase is a firm indication of longer term improvements.

She said: "I commented last month that whilst it is reassuring to meet last year's passenger levels, I believe we are just seeing the early indications of a steady recovery.

"I do not expect the real impetus of increases to be seen until early next year.

"The next few months depends upon a number of key factors, one of which is the weather, which impacted us hugely last winter.

"Another is the progression of overall economic growth, not just for the Isle of Man, but for the UK and Europe.

"The business sector has cut back hugely on their air travel over the last two years, and we need to see this market returning to give our route network the injection of traffic it needs."

Much of the increase in September traffic has been due to competition on routes to North West England generating an additional 2,430 passengers to Liverpool - a 22 per cent increase, resulting in a 1,700 6.6 per cent rise in North West passengers as a whole. 

However, Manchester and Blackpool suffered 5 per cent and 7 per cent reductions.

Routes to the South East also had a mixed result in September with Gatwick posting an increase for the fourth month running and Luton virtually meeting last year's total, while London City experienced a substantial 1,300 - or 24 per cent - decrease due to the slow return of business traffic and reduced aircraft capacity on the route.

More passengers flew between the Isle of Man and North East England as the Manx2.com Newcastle service recorded a massive 57 per cent increase, but with Leeds reducing by 11 per cent.

The Flybe Bristol route generated more than 1,100 passengers, boosting South West totals by 455, but with Gloucester traffic reducing by almost 30 per cent.

Meanwhile Birmingham saw a small increase of about 2.5 per cent.

The new summer service to Anglesey, which operated in the beginning of September only, successfully filled almost 60 per cent of the seats flown.

Ann said: "One of the encouraging aspects of the September results has been that many of our routes have seen improvements to their load factors – that is the percentage of seats sold.

"The Flybe routes to Gatwick, Luton and Manchester have improved, whilst Manx2.com operated many of their routes at around 60 per cent.

"This is fundamentally important to the airlines, who have tried to tailor capacity offered on each route as far as possible to match the reduced demand we have recently been seeing."

Charter traffic has again seen a massive percentage improvement with the highly successful Mediterranean weekly summer series of holiday flights operated by Freedom Travel Holidays doubling the numbers of charter passengers.

Freedom has announced it will be offering an expanded series of holiday flights direct from the Isle of Man throughout the summer of 2011 and in addition to Majorca and Menorca will be flying to Ibiza.

Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne MHK said he recognises the importance of direct holiday flights from the Isle of Man to European destinations and welcomed the expansion of the Freedom Travel Programme for 2011.

He said: "It is very reassuring to see the excellent support that the Manx community has given to these, and other, direct holiday flights during 2010, and I am delighted that Freedom Travel, a Manx based travel company, is taking the initiative to expand their programme for 2011.

"The ability for our people to be able to take family summer holidays with a choice of destinations and departures dates, without the uncertainty and hassle of transferring over a UK airport, is a real boost for our Manx quality of life."