Passenger figures released yesterday by Birmingham Airport
reveal a 17.1% increase in the number of travellers flying to and
from Asia as the major highlight of 2010.
The stats, buoyed by the likes of Emirates' ever-popular
twice-daily service to Dubai, represents a fillip in what was
acknowledged as one of the industry's most turbulent years. During
2010, 720,000 people flew between the Midlands' premier gateway and
Asia, to cities including Islamabad, Dubai, Ashkhabad and
Tehran.
These results reinforce the Airport's knowledge that there is a
considerable demand for flights to Asia from the Midlands and
support the Company's current strategy to secure direct flights to
India.
Overall, the Airport handled 8,577,822 passengers in 2010, a
fall of 5.8% compared to the previous year. This fall was a trend
witnessed throughout the industry, largely down to a combination of
factors including the current economic downturn, extreme weather
and the unprecedented ash cloud in April.
Some 6,560,778 people used scheduled flights in 2010, 76.5% of
the total figure. The top three scheduled destinations were Dublin,
Dubai and Amsterdam, the same as in 2009.
Charter traffic accounted for 23.5% of the total figure with
2,017,044 people using these services last year. The top three
charter destinations were Dalaman, Palma and Tenerife.
Paul Kehoe, the Airport's CEO said, "We always envisaged that
2010 would be a challenging year for the aviation industry, however
I don't think that anyone could have foreseen the impact of the
volcanic ash in April. This event alone cost the Airport £2m
in lost revenue and had a significant impact on consumer
confidence. This has been most apparent in the discretionary
market, with passengers now choosing to stay at home rather than
fly away for the weekend.
"We also opened and finished the year with snow, which again had
a significant impact on operations. With much of the UK and Europe
affected by the inclement weather in December there was a huge
operational challenge to overcome.
"While there were many challenges during 2010 there were plenty
of highlights too. We hosted The Pope's farewell departure in
September and launched an exciting new brand, which represents a
change of identity and aims to grow loyalty from people living
within our catchment. We want to embrace the fact that we can
connect people to over 400 different places worldwide and want
people to feel proud and excited about the opportunities that lie
ahead.
"Looking forward, we will launch our One Terminal project in May
and, once operational, the new single terminal facility will offer
a vastly improved passenger experience. With a larger centralised
security search area, an enlarged meeting & greeting arrivals
point, and an improved shopping and catering offer in both landside
and airside areas, we would call on those who perhaps haven't used
Birmingham for some time to take another look."