Passenger traffic at the Isle of Man Airport suffered a further decline of almost 12% in May with nearly 8,500 fewer passengers passing through the Airport, compared with May 2008.
Once again, the North West market saw the major fall of 4,500 passengers. An 8.3% drop in passengers flying to London airports reflects a better performance than most UK regional routes to the Capital, principally boosted by the substantial increase in traffic to London City Airport.
Other regions also saw significant decreases, with Scottish routes and those to the south and south west of England averaging 30 declines. Routes to the Midlands and Ireland declined by about 12%.
Ann Reynolds, Airport Director for the Isle of Man, confirmed that the 11.8% decrease for the Island’s Airport is still slightly ahead of current UK national trends. ‘Many UK airports are experiencing 15% to 25% decreases, compared with 2008,’ she said. ‘Thus, the Isle of Man is still slightly ahead of the game, despite another disappointing month.
'I believe that we are now seeing the full impact of the recession on not only business traffic, but upon the start of the summer leisure season. There is little doubt that people are being very cautious with their holiday commitments and reducing the number of short stay holidays for which the Isle of Man has become so popular.’
However, early indications from some airlines are that forward bookings for the peak summer, whilst still well short of 2008 levels, are beginning to look a little more optimistic.
‘We are very hopeful that the spring and early summer of 2009 will prove to be the bottoming out of the downturn in airport passenger
traffic,’ added Ann.
‘Our main objective is to do everything possible to assist our airlines to be able to retain routes from the Island and to optimise the frequency and capacity provided on our routes.
‘So far, we have been successful in retaining all of the routes operated in summer 2008 and, whilst passenger levels may be down, we are still able to offer easy access to and from the Island from over 20 UK and Irish destinations. This is at a time when many airports are losing significant numbers of their routes.’
On a positive note, May saw the introduction of a new summer service to Jersey by Flybe. The Saturday direct flight provides the first weekend link between the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands for many years.
The service targets not only those looking for a weekly break, but, by using the through service to Jersey via Luton which is available on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, a variety of short stay breaks are available.
May 2009 also saw the doubling of the frequency of the summer service between the Island and Newquay Airport in Cornwall.
Minister of Transport David Anderson MHK was also more optimistic about the coming summer season: ‘All the indications are that the Island’s visitor numbers will begin to pick up during the peak summer period and I am confident that the air transport market will benefit from an improving holiday season,’ he said.
‘The fact that we have such a diversity of routes to the Isle of Man allowing easy access from all UK regions will help us significantly during the coming period of recovery.’
