North Sea downturn continues to stall Aberdeen Airport numbers as Glasgow and Edinburgh maintain ascent

Aberdeen International Airport (AIA) suffered a near-17 per cent fall in passenger numbers in January as reduced offshore helicopter business continued to hit the terminal.

The figures stood in sharp contrast to the number of people passing through Edinburgh Airport which increased by 11.4 per cent to 700,142 last month.

Meanwhile Glasgow Airport welcomed 551,177 passengers during the first month of the year, up 13.5 per cent on the previous year.

Aberdeen’s gateway was used by a total of 210,021 people in January, compared with 252,561 during the same month in 2015.

Bosses said a sharp fall in the number of people using domestic fixed-wing flights – last month’s figure of 117,850 was down by 20 per cent year-on-year – also contributed to the overall drop in travellers.

Domestic services have been hit by Virgin Atlantic withdrawing its Little Red service between Aberdeen and London Heathrow last autumn.

The ongoing impact of a severe downturn in the North Sea oil and gas industry saw AIA suffer a 24.5 per cent drop in helicopter passengers last month, compared with January 2015, while international flights carried 3.7 per cent fewer passengers.

AIA managing director Carol Benzie said: “The low oil price is continuing to have a direct impact on helicopter and domestic traffic. Despite showing a slight dip, international traffic remains strong and we have the launch of Icelandair’s new year-round service to Reykjavik to look forward to in March.”

She added: “January brought welcome news and a much-needed boost for Aberdeen in the shape of the City Deal announcement.

“The scale of the investment, coupled with the news that we are to significantly expand the airport, presents a fantastic opportunity to deliver a real step change for Aberdeen in terms of improving infrastructure, strengthening our economy and bolstering the labour market.”

Plans for a £20million expansion of AIA were officially unveiled by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon last week.