Dortmund Airport Hits Record Summer Figures
Dortmund Airport has enjoyed a busy summer season, from the first weekend of the holidays through to the last holidaymakers returning home. With 530,423 travellers in total, the airport not only exceeded the previous year’s figure but also surpassed the half-million mark for the first time, setting a new holiday record. More than 36,000 additional passengers compared to the previous year translates into a rise of around 7.3 percent.
“Over half a million people chose to travel via Dortmund Airport this summer”, says airport CEO Ludger van Bebber. “Not only is this a record-breaking result, is also confirms that numerous visitors appreciate what we offer and the good transport links.” Behind this high volume of travel lies a remarkable, largely unseen performance: “Holiday travel on this scale is only possible if a whole host of processes work together seamlessly. So we would like to extend special thanks to our staff and local partners. They ensured that operations ran reliably and smoothly, even at the busiest times." Dortmund Airport counted more than 13,000 passengers on peak days.
The holiday programme was boosted by new routes, including daily flights to London and this year’s additional services to Targu Mures, Wrocław, Nis and Oradea. Many passengers continued to opt for established holiday destinations this summer, despite the expanded route network. Katowice was in particularly high demand once again. The Polish city regularly tops the list of the most popular destinations and managed to consolidate its leading position even more this year. With just under 58,000 travellers, the rise in the number of people flying to Katowice was around 15 percent compared to the same period last year. The next most popular destinations were Palma de Mallorca (42,407 passengers), Tirana (31,163 passengers) and Bucharest (31,110 passengers).
But there should be no waning in wanderlust, even as the summer holidays draw to a close. As early as 8 September, Dortmund Airport will be adding Palermo as a new route to its timetable, offering passengers the opportunity to extend their summer in sunny Sicily. From October, travellers will also be able to reach mainland Italy and head for the major cities of Milan and Rome.
