The UK CAA has published traffic figures for September 2009.
Dublin-London
Dublin's Gatwick traffic which is split between Ryanair and Aer Lingus showed a 6% YoY growth at 90,203. Heathrow and Stansted both showed negative trends with LHR down 14% again this month to 127,947 passengers and Stansted (a Ryanair preserve) down 18% to 62,813. Luton was down 2% YoY at 27,931. Once again no surprises with the trend following previous months with Gatwick and Luton remaining relatively unscathed at the expense of Stansted and Heathrow. The higher cost airports are suffering at the expense of the lower cost which certainly seems to back up the Ryanair contention that the Irish government's travel tax is hitting tourist numbers.
Cork-London
At Cork, Gatwick traffic was down 5% to 9,258. Heathrow was down 2% to 43,168 while Stansted, a Ryanair route was down 3% to 24,207. Cork's traffic decline has certainly slowed considerably to single digit compared to the mid teen double digit elsewhere.
Shannon-London
Shannon has fared similar to Dublin and Cork with Gatwick down 11% YoY for the month at 14,996 and Stansted again down 18% YoY, to 21,633, explainable by one less return flight per day on the route.
On the Heathrow - Shannon route the total for the month was 10,996 down in the region of 4,000 over the August figure for the same frequency.
Belfast-London
On the Belfast City - Heathrow route, BMI will be well pleased with its September performance. Not only did it manage to buck the seasonal trend which sees numbers drop from August to September but it also managed a 5% YoY growth on the route with 44,173 passengers.
Over at Aldergrove, Aer Lingus has seen its slide on the - Heathrow route continue with a 13% YoY decline with almost 4,500 less passengers over August using the service.
BMI 1-0 Aer Lingus once again.
On the Belfast City - London Gatwick route, operated by FlyBe, passenger figures are up 24% YoY at 18,357 which represents a higher growth figure than August but less passengers using the route Month on Month. EasyJet's Belfast International - Gatwick route suffered again this month with a 10% YoY fall in numbers to 24,135.
FlyBe 1-0 easyJet.