Airport Rostock-Laage doubled its scheduled flights in 2009 compared to 2008 and mitigated the weak charter business successfully – enormous increase in freight transports – strategic course will be continued in 2010 with new air routes to Munich and Zurich – further information on our new website www.rostock-airport.de
The strategic concept of the airport Rostock-Laage to bring tourists and business people to the Baltic Sea coast proves to be successful: From January to December 2009, 66,480 passengers made use of the scheduled flights offered by Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns largest airport, nearly 56 percent more than in 2008 (42,688 passengers). The Germanwings connection from/to Stuttgart established in March 2009 became an immediate success: The utilization amounted to nearly 77 percent on average, with 26,387 passengers in total. The Low-Cost-Airline’s air route to Cologne, established in 2007, reached a stabile utilization of 75 percent, with 26,703 passengers in total, too.
Despite of successfully established scheduled flights, the general crisis of the aviation sector was noticeable in Laage as well. Significantly reduced capacities of the traditional charter carriers caused a decrease of passengers from 175,411 auf 161,812 which is reduction for 7.75 percent. However, the air freight numbers increased significantly: With 3,044 tons in total, about 168 tons more were handled than in the previous year (1,134 tons).
Maria Muller, managing director of the airport Rostock-Laage, says: „Even in an economically difficult environment, attractive product may enable successful growth. Thus, we will continue our promising strategic focus on scheduled flights and cargo business again this year. We are extremely proud to have – for the first time in the airport’s history - the Deutsche Lufthansa among our customers, with scheduled flights to Munich from the end of March on. In addition, we expect a very good acceptance of the Helvetica Airways connection to Zurich which will be implemented from May on. Furthermore, we invest into co-operations with travel agencies to meet the existing demand for holiday destinations and to realize the full potential of the segment. This development ensures a long-term sustainable business position of the airport and economic benefits for the entire region.”
The income and employment effects of the airport Rostock-Laage generated additional federal, state and municipality tax revenues of about 95.3 million Euro in 2009 (Source: Regional economic study by Prof. Dr. Richard Klophaus, Centre of Aviation Law and Economics, Trier).
In addition, the enormous increase of freight transports proves the increasing interest in attractive cargo offers by airports addressed to customers of the logistics industry. Competitive advantages of Rostock-Laage are the 24-hour-operating license, the optimum geographical position close to the federal motorway and the international port of Rostock, the closeness to Scandinavia, South and Eastern Europe and the Baltic States in combination with affordable airport and settlement fees, to name just a few.
Further information are available at the newly designed website www.rostock-airport.de.
Comparative figures 2008 - 2009
