Traffic Report August 2006  Comments from the Airport Manager				Billund Airport, 2006-09-01
	August 2006		August 2005		Per cent		Change
Operations	5,268		6,232		-15.5%		-964
Scheduled	1,991		2,072		-3.9%		-81
Charter	825		811		1.7%		14
Other traffic	722		769		-6.1%		-47
Local traffic	1,730		2,580		-32.9%		-850
Passengers	187,431		193,510		-3.1%		-6,079
Domestic, scheduled	9,390		14,922		-37.1%		-5,532
Arriving	4,687		7,416		-36.8%		-2,729
Departing	4,703		7,506		-37.3%		-2,803
Transit/transfer	0		0		-		0
International, scheduled	69,693		73,615		-5.3%		-3,922
Arriving	35,286		37,173		-5.1%		-1,887
Departing	33,309		35,060		-5.0%		-1,751
Transit/transfer	1,098		1,382		-20.5%		-284
Charter	105,963		102,525		3.4%		3,438
Arriving	55,686		54,148		2.8%		1,538
Departing	47,495		47,067		0.9%		428
Transit/transfer	2,782		1,310		112.4%		1,472
Other traffic	1,568		1,778		-11.8%		-210
Local traffic	817		670		21.9%		147
Cargo, in tons	5,147		4,304		19.6%		843
Import	2,566		2,291		12.0%		275
Export	2,581		2,013		28.2%		568

Impressive charter traffic figures for August


The number of charter traffic passengers shows, that Billund also in the summer 2006 remains the undisputed central airport of West Denmark.

In August Billund experienced a growth of 3.4 per cent in charter traffic on top of the already high figures.

The total number of passengers in August was  187,431, corresponding to a decrease of 3.1 per cent.

The decrease is a result of the changes that took place from the winter to the summer traffic timetable. The capacity on some of the scheduled routes is simply too small.  On the part of the domestic services, the closing down of the feeder service from Aalborg accounts for the decrease in the number of passengers. Also Sterling this year did not operate a feeder service from Copenhagen.

For all traffic categories there are good news:

Cirrus Airlines/Lufthansa has increased the capacity on the service between Billund and Frankfurt, which is now being flown with an Embraer 170 with 72 passengers seats against the previous 50 seats in the smaller version. The service continues with 3 daily flights in each direction.

KLM has announced an increased frequency of 4 daily departures instead of the present 3 from the coming winter schedule. On two of the the four flights bigger capacity will be secured by using a B737. This is the positive responce from KLM to the demands from the market.

On 28 August SUN-AIR commenced daily flights on the route Billund-Paris (CDG).

With a first flight on the 24th of January Ryanair opens the Billund-Dublin route. The company expects 60,000 passengers the first year of the new route. Billund expects further development in the coorperation with Ryanair.

Due to the succes on the Bornholm-route Cimber has extended its operational periode to well over the middle of October. The route was inteded to stop right after the high summer season. Further the route will be operated during the christmas and new year period.

The main part of the winter ski-holiday catalogues has been published. Also here Billund has noticed a considerable increase. By and large all the main operators offer flights from Billund:  Ski1, DanSki, Nortlander, Østergård´erne, Trier Ski, Øster Lindet, Thinggaard, Team Benns, Tjæreborg, Winther Rejser og Højmark Rejser.

On the air cargo market export activity experiences a significant increase after a quiet summer. Compared to August last year the amount of cargo exported has increased by 28.2 per cent. Also the import side shows an increase - 12.0 per cent. Friday 25 August became a day to remember at Cargo Center Billund, a new record of handled good was set, 500 tons of goods went through CCB. This amount corresponds to the full capacity of 5-6 Jumbo Jets.


Billund Airport, 1 September, 2006
Jørgen Krab Jørgensen