George Nugent Travels

NOTE: All passenger figures are taken from CAA monthly statistics.

This will be the first of four posts outlining the summer markets from Scotland’s busiest airports for the previous two summer seasons. The aim of these posts is to provide a deeper insight into where you can fly from Scotland, how popular your favourite holiday destination is, as well as providing the general public with a simplified overview of some of the statistics behind the aviation industry.

Our first post will focus specifically on Aberdeen Airport (ABZ). Located to the north of Aberdeen the airport is owned by AGS Airports – who also own Glasgow and Southampton Airports. The airport is the third busiest in Scotland, and is home to a mix of domestic and international routes.

In summer 2022 the airport was home to 18 international routes across 11 countries. Of these routes Esbjerg was exclusive to Aberdeen – no other airport in Scotland had commercial flights to Esbjerg, Denmark.

In summer 2023 the airport increased its international route network to 19 routes with the addition of Loganair services to Oslo. Furthermore, Esbjerg remained exclusive to Aberdeen Airport.

International Passenger Numbers

The table below breakdown the passenger number on each international route in both summer 2022 and summer 2023, as well as highlighting the change between the two years and any other notes that are relevant. The table is organised alphabetically by country.

Destination	Summer 2022	Summer 2023	Change	Other Notes
Burgas	4,294	3,498	-796
Copenhagen	895	15,480	+14,585
Esbjerg	8,844	8,273	-571	ABZ Exclusive.
Corfu	8,416	8,264	-152
Rhodes	6,307	6,893	+586
Dublin	16,346	41,324	+24,978
Riga	8,178	7,660	-518
Amsterdam	138,746	167,363	+28,617
Bergen	24,868	26,374	+1,506	Busiest Scotland to Bergen route.
Oslo	2,240	8,772	+6,532	Unsure when route launched.
Stavanger	42,730	45,912	+3,182	Busiest Scotland to Stavanger route.
Gdansk	21,837	32,654	+10,817
Faro	19,915	21,393	+1,478
Alicante	21,302	21,161	-141
Malaga	20,321	21,165	+844
Palma	26,617	27,746	+1,129
Reus	8,488	8,814	+326
Tenerife	13,264	13,706	+442
Dalaman	17,679	17,538	-141

As the table above shows ABZ had a mixed performance with its international services. Between summer 22 and summer 23 there was slight reductions across 6 routes, with 13 routes recording increases.

For context, due to slight variations in the length of both seasons some routes may have been impacted through the loss of a single flight. For example, Alicante which was only down by 141 passengers may have been impacted by the loss of a day during the season.

Overall, ABZ increased its international passenger numbers by 92,703 from summer 22 to summer 23.

Domestic Passenger Numbers

This section will outline the performance of each domestic route from Aberdeen over the previous two summer seasons.

In summer 2022 the airport was home to 18 domestic routes. Of these routes Wick, Newcastle Teesside, Humberside and Norwich were exclusive to Aberdeen.

The table below breakdown the passenger number on each domestic route in both summer 2022 and summer 2023, as well as highlighting the change between the two years and any other notes that are relevant.

Destination	Summer 2022	Summer 2023	Change	Notes
Belfast City	15,068	13,974	-1,094
Birmingham	34,585	33,524	-1,061
Bristol	10,360	10,008	-352
Exeter	5,013	0	-5,013	Route terminated
Humberside	7,025	6,244	-781	ABZ Exclusive
Kirkwall	26,563	27,147	+578
London Gatwick	113,530	122,236	+8,706
London Heathrow	234,073	287,683	+53,610
London Luton	45,852	54,441	+8,589
Manchester	52,901	46,502	-6,399
Newcastle	4,588	10,797	+6,209	ABZ Exclusive
Newquay	19,901	8,553	-11,348
Norwich	17,157	20,359	+3,202	ABZ Exclusive
Southampton	3,129	4,889	+1,760
Sumburgh	59,023	66,097	+7,074
Teesside	11,546	7,316	-4,230	ABZ Exclusive
Wick	5,584	6,869	+1,285	ABZ Exclusive

As the table above shows ABZ had a mixed performance with its domestic services. Between summer 22 and summer 23 there was reductions across 7 routes, with 9 routes recording increases.

Loganair terminated their service to Exeter, ultimately reducing route choice in summer 2023 to 16 destinations across the UK.

Overall, ABZ increased its domestic passenger numbers by 60,735 from summer 22 to summer 23. When coupled with the international passenger growth, summer traffic at ABZ increased by 153,438 passengers.

Did Any Extraordinary Events Impact These Figures?

NATS ATC disruption at London Gatwick cancelled a number of flights between Aberdeen and London Gatwick, therefore it is not unreasonable to assume that the number of passengers on this route may have been higher, however, passengers may have rebooked on flights that were still running, as well as services from other London airports.

NATS ATC also caused nationwide disruption on August 28th, cancelling a number of flights on that day, as well as causing disruption in the following days as airlines tried to recover. This will have undoubtedly impacted passenger figures at ABZ.

How Does Summer 2024 Look?

Again it is a mixed bag, with Loganair pulling services to Oslo, however, Ryanair are increasing flights to Alicante from 2x week to 3x week.

TUI have removed their based aircraft, and will be operating flights on W patterns with Glasgow based aircraft operating flights.