Passenger numbers grew 3.1% from 2016’s total of 75.7 million due to record load factors of 78%, up two percentage points.
The airport said this was “partly driven by an increase in UK inbound demand, influenced by the depreciation of sterling, particularly from the Middle East and Asia Pacific”. More airlines were also using Airbus A380 double decker aircraft, it said.
During the year, new long haul services to Barbados, New Orleans, Portland, Qingdao and Santiago were started. Each passenger spent an average £8.45 in the airport’s retail outlets.
