Hebrides airport passenger figures down

Passenger figures at Stornoway and Benbecula have dropped by almost a third as a result of the Iclandic volcanic ash cloud .

Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd has released its total passenger figures month on month for April and year to date 2009/10 vs 2010/11

For the month of April, the HIAL group saw a 32% decline over all 11 airports, carrying 70,070 passengers against 103,109 in 2009/10.

“Material impacts”

The most severely affected airport being Islay which saw a decline of 37.8%, carrying 1,381 in April against 2,221 in April 2009/10.

Commenting on the figures, HIAL Managing Director Inglis Lyon said:

“This is desperately bad news for all concerned; passengers, airlines and airports alike and we

continue to work with the authorities to investigate ways in which some of the more material impacts can be mitigated against.”

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