June at Poznań-Ławica Airport is the second month of the holiday season. June is also the month that concludes the first half of 2016, making it a time for summaries. Despite the current geopolitical situation, which is slightly slowing down passenger traffic on some routes, the Poznań airport is expanding its offer with alternative destinations, and clear growth in statistics is still visible.
From January to June 2016, almost 750,000 passengers were handled in Poznań, which represents an increase of 7.26% compared to the same period last year. In this period, LCC (low-cost carrier) connections recorded a large increase of 21%. In June 2016, 194,259 passengers were handled at the Poznań airport.
According to expert analyses regarding the shift in the burden of holiday charter traffic from previously price-attractive destinations, the Poznań airport has been dominated by alternative destinations, with Greek ports having a large share. Thus, 6,000 passengers traveled to and from Heraklion, 5,241 to/from Rhodes, 5,239 to/from Zakynthos, 4,700 to/from Corfu, 2,655 to and from Chania, 2,500 to/from Kos, 1,382 to/from Kefalonia, 1,375 to and from Athens, and 1,300 to and from Thessaloniki.
New routes launched in June, which enjoyed great passenger interest from the start, were Cyprus and Paphos – 1,041 passengers, and the Italian city of Catania – 999 passengers handled. However, the absolute number one in June was charter traffic to southeastern Bulgaria with Burgas, with 7,257 passengers. Among carriers in this category, the most passengers flew with Enter Air.
In the charter segment, 72,630 passengers were handled in Poznań, which, compared to the previous month’s 22,732 passengers, shows that the charter season has started for good. In the scheduled segment, 121,119 passengers were recorded, including 85,585 on LCC (low-cost carrier) connections, with a growth dynamic of 5.99%. In the Legacy carrier segment (traditional carriers), the number of passengers was 35,534, with a growth dynamic of 2.11%.
The leader among flight destinations is London Luton with 15,333 passengers. The largest increases in the LCC segment were again recorded by Wizz Air, which carried +12% more passengers compared to May 2015, while among Legacy carriers, growth was recorded by LOT Polish Airlines, which carried over +29% more passengers compared to May of last year.
– The charter season has opened, and this is very clearly visible in the statistics – says the President of Poznań-Ławica Airport, Mariusz Wiatrowski. – The half-year is, on one hand, a good moment for a summary, and on the other – it is just the beginning of the peak holiday flight season, which is why this period is, not only according to the season, the hottest for the airport… We expect that the strong opening will continue and the upward trend will be maintained in the following months, which we will see as early as July. It is gratifying that tourists, due to the situation in the world, have not given up on their desire to fly, but are only changing their habits and holiday plans, which can be seen, for example, in the success of the growth of destinations in Greece or Bulgaria. However, there are huge drops in traffic to Egypt, Turkey, or Tunisia to make up for. Carriers in the low-cost (LCC) category are also working actively, preparing interesting offers for passengers. Thus, in June, both Wizz Air and Ryanair offered promotions for European flights at significantly reduced prices, which increased the attractiveness of the airport as a place to travel to well-known tourist destinations. PLL LOT also inaugurated a connection via Warsaw to Seoul, which increased the attractiveness of Far Eastern destinations in the transcontinental route network. All this shows that we, together with our partners, are trying to accurately read the current market situation, actively and effectively looking for new solutions.