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Ten million passengers make it a record year for Birmingham Airport

Birmingham Airport enjoyed its busiest-ever year in 2014 with 9.7 million passengers passing through the West Midlands gateway.

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If finished the year with a record December, with another 622,317 passengers travelling through the airport, an increase of 8.4 per cent on last year and the busiest December since 2008.

As a result, over the 12 months the airport handled a total of 9,707,449 passengers; an increase of 6.5 per cent compared to 2013. It also celebrated seven record months in April, May, June, July, August, November and December with Dublin, Dubai and Amsterdam as the top three destinations.

Airport chief executive Paul Kehoe said: "During 2014 we experienced seven record months and saw the completion of a major package of infrastructure works that has prepared the airport for future passenger growth.

"The passenger records have been achieved as a result of airlines introducing new routes and more people realising the ease of travelling to and through Birmingham Airport – and the coming year looks equally exciting as we prepare for American Airlines, Norwegian and Vueling to start operations in the summer.

"We also expect Dubai to overtake Dublin as the busiest route this year, as Emirates get set to launch a third daily service from August, and with more capacity being offered by Turkish Airlines, Air India, SAS, Brussels Airlines, Aegean, Thomson and Thomas Cook, travellers can expect more choice than ever from Birmingham in 2015."

The year also saw the launch of Birmingham's extended runway, which allows aircraft to fly direct to the West Coast of America and to the Far East.

As a result, during the summer the airport saw its first ever direct service to China.

The 5,000 mile round trip from Beijing was the first ever flight from China to a non-London UK airport and helped boost passenger figures in July past the 1 million mark.

International flights also proved popular last month, with 464,190 passengers travelling abroad from Birmingham during December – 10.7 per cent more than in December 2013.

Scheduled traffic in December was up by 8.6 per cent, with the most significant growth seen on flights to Hamburg (up 116.3 per cent), Stuttgart (up 59.7 per cent), Las Palmas (up 46.9 per cent), Alicante (up 37.4 per cent) and Knock (up 36.4 per cent).

Seasonal holiday travellers were heading for the sun, as charter traffic showed a 6.2 per cent increase in December with growth seen on services to Montego Bay (up 100 per cent), Lapland (up 89.2 per cent), Enfidha (up 58.6 per cent), Cancun (up 43.1 per cent), Rovaniemi (up 28.3 per cent), Paphos (up 28 per cent) and Bridgetown (up 25.3 per cent).

During December, scheduled traffic accounted for 91 per cent of the total figure, with charter passengers making up the remaining nine per cent.

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