Passenger numbers hit highest in a decade
AIRPORT CELEBRATES 10% RISE IN YEARLY FIGURES
PASSENGER numbers climbed to a 10-year high at Newcastle Airport last year as it reaped the rewards of investment and new destinations.
The business behind the North East airport – NIAL Group Limited – has published accounts for 2017 showing passenger numbers rose 10% to 5.35m last year – an extra 490,000 travellers and the highest figure recorded in a decade.
Airport bosses said the figures were boosted by additional capacity with low-cost airlines, as more sunshine destinations and an enhanced winter flying programme was on offer.
Overall, revenues increased 4% to £67m and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) rose 16% to £38.7m.
Meanwhile, operating profit increased 24% to £27.8m and last year’s pre-tax loss of £2.3m was converted to profit of £6.9m.
A report for the year details how £11.5m of investment was ploughed into a series of improvements, including an upgrade to the hold baggage handling and check-in systems, a reconfiguration of the express car park and a replacement of part of the terminal floor.
That spend comes on top of the £10.5m spent in 2016 to complete an extension to the long term car park – creating an additional 1,600 parking spaces – and an upgrade of the baggage handling systems.
In the coming year the airport will invest more in extending the terminal building and significantly increase the operational and queueing space within the border arrivals area.
The airport was named Airport of the Year at the Northern Transport Awards and the Best UK Airport by Cheapflights.co.uk and was ranked as the fifth happiest airport in the world by Happy or Not. Low-cost international traffic grew by 29% thanks to new routes launched in late 2016, and low-cost domestic passenger numbers rose 3%.
Scheduled domestic and international passenger numbers were both down by 1%, with the overseas figure affected by the loss of the summer flights to New York.
The airport’s departure lounge and other retail offerings also saw a boost, with revenue from shops and catering facilities seeing an 11% lift on the previous year.
Airport chief executive Nick Jones said: “2017 was another fantastic year for Newcastle International.
“Passenger numbers were the highest in a decade, making it the seventh year of continuous growth, and I’m pleased to see numbers continuing to increase through 2018.
“I’m also delighted that our continued commitment to customer service was recognised on a number of occasions in 2017, with titles such as Airport of the Year at the North of England Transport Awards and best in category for customer service in Europe at the Airport Council International’s Airport Service Quality Awards picked up in the last 12 months.”