East Midlands Airport winter passenger numbers up on last year,
11
April
2018
|
11:28
Europe/Amsterdam

East Midlands Airport winter passenger numbers up on last year

Easter getaway off to a flying start

Summary

East Midlands Airport has recorded an increase in passenger numbers this winter compared with the same period last year.

Despite the wintry weather and interruptions to flight schedules due to snow, over 1.6m passengers flew to and from East Midlands Airport between October 2017 and March 2018 which is a 3% increase on last year’s winter season.

This has been achieved thanks, in part, to new routes and increased frequency. Ryanair launched a new twice-weekly route to Seville at the end of last year and Thomas Cook resumed flights to Egypt in February.

The lure of warmer climes has proved irresistible to holiday makers across the East Midlands after a bitterly cold winter. Thanks to an earlier Easter, travellers have taken the opportunity to grab some much-needed sunshine. This has led to passenger numbers at the start of April exceeding forecasts which bodes well for the start of the summer season. As things stand, they are up 4.2% on this time last year.

The top 10 destinations that passengers have been flying to this Easter are:

  • Alicante
  • Tenerife
  • Malaga
  • Palma
  • Faro
  • Dublin
  • Lanzarote
  • Belfast City
  • Gran Canaria
  • Fuerteventura

Howard Ebison, East Midlands Airport’s Commercial Director, says: “Despite a difficult winter which brought much of the UK to a standstill, our winter passenger numbers have exceeded last year’s. We’re delighted with the start of April too. Unsurprisingly, eight of the top 10 destinations that travellers have been flying to this Easter are places where prolonged spells of sunshine are more likely.”

Building on last year’s summer season, the busiest since 2008, holiday makers looking for guaranteed sunshine this summer will benefit from a great selection of flights to the most popular holiday destinations such as the Canaries, the Balearic Islands, mainland Spain and Portugal, and even Mexico and Florida.

New summer routes are:

  • Jet2 Bodrum, Turkey
  • Ryanair – Seville (continuation of their winter service)

Next winter, passengers will have even more choice as Jet2.com and Jet2holidays are flying its busiest winter flights and holidays programme from East Midlands Airport, with over 300,000 seats on sale to 16 winter sun, city and ski destinations for winter 2018 and 2019 - an increase of 11,000 extra seats.