Aberdeen International Airport’s latest passenger figures show no let-up in negative impact from the North Sea energy industry downturn.
A total of 255,000 people travelled through the Granite City gateway during April, a 15.6% plunge from a year ago to continue a monthly decline which started early last year.
The most telling statistic is the number of people using helicopter flights to and from North Sea oil and gas installations.
Last month’s total for helicopter passengers was 35,911, down by nearly 24% from April 2015.
For fixed wing aircraft, domestic and international traveller numbers were down by 17.9% to 143,217 and by 5.8% to 75,077 respectively.
But recently introduced services to Iceland and the Canary Islands and others about to take off for Newquay and Warsaw, Poland, are expected to help AIA bosses start rebuilding business.
AIA managing director Carol Benzie said: “April’s figures have shown once again that the downturn in the economy has had a significant impact on our passenger figures.
“However, this has not deterred us from working hard to deliver new routes and to committing significant investment to providing new facilities for our passengers.
“Last month, we welcomed the launch of Thomson’s new Gran Canaria service. It has already proved to be extremely popular.
“We are also preparing to celebrate the launch of Wizz Air’s twice weekly, year-round route to Warsaw which will take off on tomorrow and Flybe’s summer service to Newquay which starts on May 26.”
She added: “The first phase of our £20million terminal redevelopment programme is also gathering momentum, with the first phase getting underway later this month.
“This initial stage will see the current domestic and international reclaim facilities temporarily relocated to allow construction of the new two-storey extension.”
By contrast, Glasgow Airport – under the same ownership as AIA – said yesterday it had enjoyed its busiest April on record.
Strong demand for European services boosted traveller numbers in Scotland’s biggest city. Nearly 722,000 people used the airport last month, up 8.5% from April 2015.
International and domestic traffic grew by 11.6% and 5.6% respectively, with British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair all reporting an increase in demand for their London services.
Separately-owned Edinburgh Airport reported an 8.7% rise in passenger numbers last month, with just over 1million people passing through its doors.
