- 11.4% increase in January passenger numbers
Glasgow Airport has made the best possible start to 2015 after 485,685 passengers travelled through its doors in January 2015, representing an increase of 11.4% on the previous year.
International traffic grew by 18.1% and was bolstered by the performance of both Ryanair’s and Wizz Air’s direct services to Eastern Europe. Airlines such as Icelandair, Emirates and United also reported an increase in demand. Domestic traffic was up 6.6% compared to the same period last year and benefited from British Airways’ decision to add extra capacity on its Heathrow and London City routes.
Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport, said: “It was always going to be a challenge to follow 2014’s performance but we have managed to continue where we left off and record yet another month of growth. January is traditionally a quiet period but we experienced a marked increase in demand for international travel, particularly to some of the European destinations we have added in recent months including Wroclaw and Katowice.
“Our focus for 2015 is to ensure we build on last year’s success by securing further new routes and services. Our efforts will be aided by the welcome announcement in January that Air Passenger Duty (APD) is to be devolved. Giving the Scottish Parliament full control over APD will play a major role in strengthening our connectivity and it is vital this is progressed as soon as possible. Not only will it ensure our tourism industry can continue to flourish, it will enable us to truly leverage the opportunities presented by the series of major events that raised Scotland’s global profile throughout 2014.”
January’s performance follows the news that 2014 had been Glasgow Airport’s busiest since 2008. Annual passenger numbers were up by 4.8% to over 7.7 million ensuring the airport recorded its fourth consecutive year of growth.
Glasgow Airport also received a number of welcome announcements in January, including the launch of a new service to Donegal by Aer Lingus and confirmation that Ryanair will begin flights to Berlin, as well as add an extra daily service to Stansted, from October 2015.
Glasgow will host a series of major events in 2015, including the World Gymnastics Championships, the European Judo Championships, and the IPC Swimming World Championships – all of which will present opportunities to grow the inbound tourism potential of the city and build on the legacy of the Commonwealth Games.
Traffic summary
January 2015 |
||||
Terminal passengers
(000s) |
Month |
%
Change |
Feb 2014 to Jan 2015 | %
Change |
Glasgow |
485,685 |
11.4% |
7,760,297 |
5.1% |