Lufthansa expects business traffic at Newcastle to recover by year-end

Lufthansa stated it believes its business traffic to/from Newcastle International Airport may return to 2008 highs by year-end (The Journal, 06-Dec-2010). Lufthansa General Manager for the UK and Ireland Marianne Sammann stated business demand at the airport is up 27% year-on-year at present, and up 65% in Oct-2010. This follows a 17% decline in passenger numbers for Lufthansa in Newcastle in 2009. Newcastle Airport Planning and Corporate Affairs Director Graeme Mason welcomed the comments.

Lufthansa: "After a very difficult year in 2009 we have seen a fantastic increase in our passenger figures. If we make a forecast for the whole year, then we have to say it has been about catch-up for the last two years. But it is very likely we will be back at 2008 figures by the end of the year, which is not what we expected at the start of the year. Business travel has definitely come back, with lots of travel between Newcastle and the industrial area in the north of Germany," Marianne Sammann, General Manager for the UK and Ireland. Source: The Journal, 06-Dec-2010.

Newcastle Airport: "We are extremely pleased with the very positive comments made by Lufthansa. As in other areas of business we have seen some encouraging signs of growth, particularly in business figures which have been growing, more so than leisure at this stage. The important thing is we have come out of this downturn with the same core network of rates we had when we went in. That's going to be a really important platform for the economy that we haven't lost," Graeme Mason, Planning and Corporate Affairs Director. Source: The Journal, 06-Dec-2010.