Shannon Airport sees biggest fall in passengers in Ireland and UK

Irish and UK airports suffered some of the biggest falls in passenger numbers in Europe last year, according to a continent-wide survey.

Shannon airport had the worst decline in the 300-airport survey - dipping 37.2% in 2010 compared with 2009.

In the UK, Durham Tees Valley airport was 22.1% down, while Newquay fell 18.9%, Humberside was down 15.7% and Blackpool declined by 14.9%, the figures from airline network news and analysis company anna.aero found.

Irish airports had a 13% fall in passenger numbers last year compared with 2009, while UK airports had a 3.4% decline.

Ireland and the were two of only six countries which suffered a decline in passenger growth last year, the others being the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Greece.

Anna.aero said Ireland’s economic problems were “clearly reflected in the country’s airport statistics”.

The company went on: “The UK may have been hit harder than many by the Icelandic volcano fallout in April, coped badly with bad weather at the beginning and end of the year, and seen British Airways have its fair share of industrial problems, but this result should be considered very alarming to the UK coalition Government currently trying to revive the country’s economy.

"The increase in APD (air passenger duty) is unlikely to help improve matters in 2011.”

The statistics covered airports handling at least 100,000 passengers in 2010 and included Russia and Morocco.

Overall, European airports handled 4.8% more passengers in 2010 than in 2009. The biggest increases last year were in Russia (up 25.4% on 2009), Lithuania (up 23.7%) and Turkey (up 20.1%).

At individual airports, the biggest rises last year were at Kaunas in Lithuania (up 77.3%) and Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport (up 70.8%).