Passenger numbers at Dortmund Airport are continuing to grow. In 2014, too, more passengers than in the previous year took off and landed in Dortmund. A total of 1,965,802 passengers used the Ruhr region airport, which represents a 2.2 % rise in the number of passengers compared with 2013. At the same time, we can see that more Dortmund passengers are flying to London. With 235,636 passengers (Luton and Stansted combined), London has beaten Palma de Mallorca (217,949 passengers) as a destination, knocking the Germans' favourite island off the top spot. Flights to the British capital were used by 37.1 % more passengers than in 2013. These two destinations are still followed by Katowice (215,242 passengers), Munich (168,276 passengers) and Bucharest (112,171 passengers.
The number of passengers grew particularly dramatically in the first quarter of the year and was 8 % higher than the same period the previous year. The months with the most impressive increases were January and February. January saw 18 % more passengers and February 20 % more than in the same months the previous year. "There was a decline in passenger numbers in the first quarter of 2013, due to the airlines easyJet and airberlin withdrawing routes. In contrast, the first three months of 2014 showed that we were clearly in a position to offset this decline," explained Airport Managing Director Udo Mager. The airport also welcomed increased numbers of passengers in the last quarter. 4.9 % more passengers than the previous year boarded flights in the last three months of 2014.
Overall, Mager regards last year as a key strategic year. "The EU Commission not only confirmed our financing model, but also emphasised the importance of Dortmund Airport for the Ruhr region. At the same time, the new EU guidelines on airport financing give us 10 years to balance our books. Dortmund Airport is an indispensable part of the mobility infrastructure for North Rhine-Westphalia. However, this changes nothing to our objective of significantly reducing the financial burden on our shareholders and also on the Dortmund residents. To this aim, we have developed the Future Strategy 2023 and submitted it to the EU Commission. With new services and new sales channels - such as the online booking portal for parking spaces planned for the summer - we are already making progress," concludes Mager, who looks into the future with confidence. In terms of passenger numbers, as well, Mager remains optimistic for the start of 2015: "If we manage to make up for the discontinued airberlin summer flights to Mallorca and if growth continues, we will perhaps already exceed the 2 million mark in 2015."