In the first half of 2015, almost one million passengers (932,103) used Dortmund Airport, 6% more than in the same period last year. Passenger numbers at the airport are also rising in the second quarter of the year. A total of 550,871 passengers used the Ruhr region airport in the second quarter, 15,045 more than during the same period in the previous year. This represents an increase of 2.8%.
March was a particularly strong month, with an 8.6% rise in the number of passengers to a total of 177,763. April also registered a growth of 4.0% (190,713). The only month dragging figures down was June with 182,395 passengers, down -3.4% or 6,398 compared to June 2014.
The increase was particularly good news for the airport operators, as fewer weekly flights have been offered on the highly popular Palma de Mallorca route since March following the withdrawal of Air Berlin. "Despite our best efforts, we were unable to achieve quite the same level of flights to Majorca as last year. However, I am pleased that the strong demand for flights from Central and Eastern Europe to Dortmund and vice versa has compensated for this development. The summer holidays now underway are also expected to be around last year's level. That said, the effect on the third quarter of having fewer flights to Palma remains to be seen," explained Airport Managing Director Udo Mager.
Rising passenger numbers also influence the range of services offered at the Ruhr region airport. Since the beginning of May, passengers have been able to book parking spaces online on the airport's website, and many are availing of this option. The new luggage-wrapping service introduced one month ago has already also proven very successful. "The fact that our flight-related services have proven so popular reinforces our view that we can offer passengers real added value here," said Mager.