The Bordeaux hub posted close to 6 million passengers in the first nine months, more than half of whom were travelling on international routes. In September, international traffic surged by 18.3%. Domestic growth increased by 1.4%.
The international flight network continued its expansion, with growth of 18.3% to 469,300 passengers. Iberian routes showed strong growth in traffic for Faro (+80.2%), Malaga (+75%), Porto (+73%) and Madrid (+36.6%). The British Isles also fared well, notably Bristol (+26.1%) and Dublin (+18.4%). Eastern Europe continued to thrive, as Prague achieved growth of 33%, Riga recorded 18.3% and Munich posted 11.2%. The Istanbul hub, served by Turkish Airlines, recorded a significant increase of 37.7%, a figure that bodes well for the expansion of flights during the winter 2019/20 season.
Air Transat's long-haul service to Montreal in September operated at full capacity with nearly 7,000 passengers, an increase of 18.4% over the previous year.
Pascal Personne, CEO of Bordeaux Airport, added: "The Bordeaux region enjoys international recognition all year round due to a number of events. In September, the Médoc Marathon, which winds its way around vineyards and castles, attracted several thousands of runners of 55 different nationalities. The British were the most strongly represented, followed by the Germans and the Japanese."
With a total of 269,700 passengers, flights to Paris declined by 6.4% with close to 100,000 passengers. In contrast, domestic flights continued to grow, above all in Marseille (+35%), followed by Lille (+10.8%) and Strasbourg (+10%).
With an upward trend of 22.5% in September and a total of 473,000 passengers. With the establishment of its base in the spring, Ryanair maintained its position as market growth leader in September with an almost three-fold increase in the number of passengers, compared to 2018 (110,700 passengers).
