Alghero airport today announced record month on month passenger figures for June and July. At today’s press announcement passenger figures raised year on year by 14% to 155,169 compared to July 2006 when 135,747 passengers passed through the airport.

2007’s increase was due to additional routes from low cost airline Ryan air and the arrival of new airline Germanwings which operates flights to Cologne Bonn.

This announcement comes on the back of traffic figures for the month of June up 18% to 138,458 on the previous year.

The following comparison chart show year on year passenger numbers for the first 7 months of 2007.

Perhaps the real story though is where the passengers are arriving from. 2007 has seen the first decline in national passenger arrivals from mainland Italy. Flight prices are expected to be a major factor in the decrease with Ryan air unable to operate flights to Rome due to airport capacity restrictions at Ciampino airport.

This decline could however balance out as Ryanir are expected to announce the commencement of flights to both Rome and Milan by the last quarter of 2007. This will reintroduce competition with airline AirOne on both routes at which time prices are expected to decrease.

The increase in passenger numbers from the rest of Europe has resulted in an increase demand for holiday home rental accommodation. Healthy rental returns are expected to continue as the airport intends to increase the number of routes and airlines in to the airport.