UK CAA traffic figures for March

The UK CAA has published traffic figures for March 2009.

The key Ireland - London area airports all show strong Year on Year decline in numbers for the month. Easter was in March last year which will have had a detrimental effect on this March's numbers. 

From Dublin, Gatwick traffic was down 6% YoY at 91,250. Heathrow and Stansted both showed strong negative trends with LHR down 13% to 147,647 passengers and Stansted down 18% to 65,317. In total, Dublin's traffic to the 'Big 4' London area airports was down 12% .

At Cork, Gatwick traffic was down 9% to 9,219. Heathrow and Stansted again showed strong adverse trends with LHR down 7% to 39,775 and Stansted down 12% to 21,933. In total, Cork's London traffic was down 9.5% for the month.

Shannon has fared similar to Dublin and Cork with Gatwick traffic down 5% YoY at 16,860 and Stansted down 12%, the first YoY decline in some time to 27,905. Luton showed a 24% reduction to 5,148. 

Shannon is back on the LHR stats this month with the recommencement of the Heathrow service. A total of 639 passengers are recorded as having flown the route which restarted on March 29 so the figures relate to a total of 12 sectors. Not exactly an auspicious start as this figure works out at 53 passengers per aircraft or less than a 30% load factor.

In total, Shannon's London area traffic fell 9.8% YoY to 50,552 passengers.

In Belfast, City Airport continues to decline on the key LHR route with numbers dropping 11% YoY to 43,893. This drop is in line with the generally quoted drop in traffic at present so it would seem to indicate that BMI wouldn't appear to have lost any ground to Aer Lingus on the LHR routes.

At Belfast International, Aer Lingus LHR figures have shown a 3% gain YoY to 19,327.

Posted 090415