New routes, more capacity boost EMA numbers

New routes and increased seat capacity helped drive passenger growth at Nottingham/East Midlands Airport (EMA) in February, it has been announced.

The airport was used by 395,136 people last month, 19.2 per cent more than in the same month of last year.

International scheduled traffic grew at a year-on-year rate of 18.7 per cent last month, while domestic scheduled traffic increase by 12.6 per cent and charter traffic rose by 20.5 per cent.

A large portion of the people who travelled through EMA in February made use of services operated by low-cost carriers Ryanair, easyJet and bmibaby.

There has also been increased capacity on routes offered by tour operators including Thomson, Thomas Cook and XL.com.

Easter 2008 is expected to be another "bumper holiday period" at Nottingham, with some 95,000 people expected to travel through the airport.

Good Friday is expected to be the busiest day and Dublin, Alicante, Tenerife, Glasgow and Edinburgh are set to be the most popular destinations.