Air travel numbers drop expected

Business traffic at the airport has seen a large decrease

The number of passengers travelling through the Isle of Man's airport fell by 12.7% last month, compared to 2008, figures show.

Nearly 8,500 fewer passengers used Ronaldsway airport but the Luton and Belfast international routes from the island did record an increase.

Ann Reynolds, airport director, said the decline had been very much as expected.

She anticipated the situation would improve next month.

"Airlines and airports alike are having a very tough time at the moment and the fall in traffic to and from the Isle of Man is in line with UK and international trends," she said.

"It has been the business traffic that has been hardest hit recently and this has affected the Isle of Man route performance significantly.

"I remain optimistic that from May we should start to see a reversal in monthly passenger comparisons as we will then be comparing a like-for-like situation".

Flybe's Manchester and Liverpool routes, two of the busiest from the island, experienced the greatest falls.

Both were down by about 2,200 passengers contributing to over half of the airport's total decrease for the month.

The Gatwick route also fell by more than nine per cent and even the smaller routes that had held up well during the early part of the recession were showing the impact of the slow down in business travel.