Liverpool Airport reveals number of passengers it expects to handle over the festive period and the figure is up on 2022, but still below pre-pandemic levels… and no crackers are allowed. Tony McDonough reports
Passengers numbers for the big Christmas and New Year ‘getaway’ at Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) are edging closer to pre-pandemic figures.
Over the festive holiday period the LJLA expects to carry around 130,000 passengers. This is 10,000 up on the 2022 volume but still below the 150,000 that pass through the airport in the last pre-COVID year in 2019.
Families from across the region are expected to head off on flights over the holiday period to a host of destinations direct from Liverpool.
Some will be jetting off for a mix of winter sun or winter sports while many others will be travelling to visit friends or relatives. Most popular destinations include Dublin, Belfast, Geneva, Isle of Man, Alicante, Jersey, Lanzarote, Paris and Tenerife.
LJLA management are keen to remind all passengers that restrictions on liquids carried in hand luggage are still in place. They urge passengers to think carefully about what items they are intending to pack in hand luggage before they set off for the Airport.
Electrical items such as tablets and laptops must still be placed separately in trays provided along with liquids and gels up to a maximum 100ml and in small sealable transparent bags.
To avoid disappointment at the security search point and to help keep security queues to a minimum, passengers are being asked to travel with their presents unwrapped if they are to be carried in hand luggage. Christmas crackers are not permitted by most airlines.
Robin Tudor, head of PR for the airport, said: “The Christmas and New Year period is expected to be busy once again.
“We look forward to welcoming thousands of passengers from across the region who will be taking advantage of our award winning customer experience and the convenience of flying hassle-free from Liverpool.”
It has been a strong year of recovery for LJLA with passengers returning and several airlines adding new routes.
In October LBN revealed the airport had generated a pre-tax profit of £4.54m for the 12 months to March 31, 2023, after revenues more than doubled to £35.66m.
During the pandemic the airport was hit badly by long periods of lockdown. In the two years of COVID it reported pre-tax losses of £12m and £4.87m.
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Passenger numbers for its fiscal year totalled 3.8m. This is against 1.6m the previous year and represents a 79% recovery from the COVID slump when this fell to just over 500,000.
Passenger numbers for the year prior to COVID were 4.8m and LJLA now says it expects this figure to exceed 5m a year over the next year or so thanks to the arrival of Jet2 in summer 2024.