Aberdeen airport sees passenger numbers drop

• Shorter month and helicopter flight drop blamed for passenger slide

• Aberdeen airport said it suffered 1.2 per cent drop in passenger numbers

The number of people travelling through the airport in February was down 1.2 per cent on the same month last year.

There was a rise of 1.7 per cent recorded in the passenger numbers for aeroplanes but a 15.1 per cent decline in helicopter numbers affected the overall traffic figures.

Carol Benzie, the airport’s commercial director, said: “There were two factors which affected our most recent set of passenger figures.

“Firstly, the ongoing issues with the helicopter fleet had an impact on the numbers we report and we are maintaining close communication with the helicopter operators to understand the developments as they evolve.

“Also, February last year had one extra day in it, owing to the leap year, and therefore our stats for 2013 are negatively impacted by the loss of one working day.”

Meanwhile, Glasgow airport welcomed more than 423,000 people, a growth of 2.1 per cent after adjusting for 2012 being a leap year.

Demand for travel to London was credited with driving growth while international traffic was in line with 2012.

Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow airport, said: “It is encouraging that our passenger numbers showed modest growth in February, which was largely due to the strength of our domestic services.

“February was a busy month in terms of route development, with Air Malta confirming it will introduce a new weekly service in May and the first Wizz Air flights to Gdansk and Warsaw have now been launched.

“We also unveiled details of an additional £10 million of investment for 2013, on top of an already planned £7 million, to improve our passenger-facing facilities ahead of next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.”

A spokesman for Edinburgh airport said February’s figures were expected to be published later.