Half a million festive flyers to jet off from Birmingham this Christmas
Soaraway passenger figures are seeing Birmingham Airport heading into its biggest ever festive period.
Around half a million passengers are expected to jet away to visit family or friends or just for a touch of winter sun over the upcoming Christmas fortnight.
It comes hot on the heels of another record-breaking month for the West Midlands gateway, which has enjoyed a blockbuster 2016.
Nearly 780,000 passengers travelled through the airport in November.
In total 779,583 passengers were recorded giving an increase of 12.5 per cent compared to the same month last year – equivalent to 86,550 more people.
Both long haul and short haul saw similar levels of growth with long haul up by 13 per cent and short haul up by 12.6 per cent year-on-year.
Paul Kehoe, chief executive officer at Birmingham Airport, said: "November tends to be one of our quieter months and so it's fantastic to see such a healthy rate of growth in the volume of passengers.
"We are now celebrating our 21st consecutive month of record breaking growth this year which is great news for the airport and the Midlands region."
Regular, scheduled traffic accounted for 94 per cent of the total passenger volume for November and saw a 13.8 per cent growth rate compared to the same month last year. Charter traffic accounted for six per cent of the total.
Caribbean, African, Asian and Middle Eastern destinations saw the greatest increase in passengers compared to the same month last year.
The number of people flying to and from Madrid tripled, while numbers to Banjul in The Gambia doubled, along with Sal Island in Cape Verde and Marrakech.
Airport bosses say their estimates for December show that it's expected to be another record breaking month and the busiest festive period on record for Birmingham Airport.
Between Friday, December 16, and Tuesday January 3 the airport is expecting to see over half a million people giving a predicted increase of 21.2 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Popular destinations for passengers jetting off to visit family and friends over Christmas include Scotland and Ireland.
Those seeking a bit of winter sun are jetting off to Dubai, Madrid, Montego Bay, Cancun, Tenerife and Lanzarote.
The airport will remain open throughout Christmas and New Year, with an estimated 13,590 passengers travelling through on Christmas Day, 82.2 per cent more than last year.
