Airport looks to halt decline in passengers by freezing charges
FREEZING airline and passenger charges will hopefully arrest the sharp decline in traveller numbers through Guernsey Airport, ports general manager Colin Le Ray has said.
During 2018 there were 808,616 passengers going through the airport. That was a 6% decline since 2013 and an 11% decline since 2008.
‘We do recognise that 2018 was another difficult trading year for the airlines and sea carriers,’ said Mr Le Ray.
‘At Guernsey Airport passenger numbers continued on a downward trend in 2018, with a total number of 808,616 passengers travelling through Guernsey Airport, compared to 813,595 in 2017. This represents a reduction of 0.6% on 2017, but thankfully the rate of decline has slowed.’
Airlines are charged per plane, while passenger also face airport charges. Mr Le Ray said these would be kept at 2018 levels this year to try and boost numbers.
He added that he was not too concerned about the long-term drop.
‘When we do look back over time, we generally find that passenger levels are cyclical and we see a pattern over time,’ he said.
‘It depends where we are in the economic cycle.’
Passengers numbers were climbing up for a few years until 2008, but have dropped since then. The UK financial crisis also started in 2008.
Mr Le Ray said due to keeping the aeronautical and passenger charges at 2018 levels, the airport would need to find revenue from elsewhere, such as parking charges, advertising and catering. Parking charges for 24 hours at the airport have already risen by a pound this year to £11. Mr Le Ray said the first hour at the airport would remain free.
Gatwick remains the most popular destination, with more than 331,000 passengers last year.
That was a 3.4% rise on 2017, and made up half of all the passengers travelling between Guernsey and the UK.
Southampton, the second favourite destination, also enjoyed a nearly 2% rise, with 117,000 people.
However, East Midlands and Leeds Bradford both saw a sizeable drop in their passengers.
While Alderney’s passengers numbers dropped from 31,278 to 30,047, Jersey saw a rise to more than 103,000.
Passenger numbers at Guernsey Airport and Harbour totalled 1,116,613 in 2018, compared to 1,133,850 in 2017.
A reduction of 17,237 passengers or -1.5%.
