VLM Press Office - 2006-01-10 passengers 2005

VLM Airlines carried 13% more passengers in 2005

Antwerp, 10 January 2006 – Today VLM Airlines announced that it transported a total of 625,300 passengers in 2005. It’s been a positive year for this regional business airline, with an increase of 13% in passengers transported on its scheduled flights and an overall increase of 12% compared to 2004.

As a regional business airline, VLM Airlines has demonstrated once again that a clear and focussed strategy can lead to success, even in the very competitive airline sector. The strategy of VLM Airlines is based on offering time-saving travel solutions to business people, a target audience that clearly understands and appreciates the efficiency and convenient schedules offered by the airline.

Brief overview of 2005

Last year was marked by the disastrous terrorist attacks in London, the constant increase in fuel prices and political decisions that all too often were not advantageous to the airline sector in general.

On the other hand, the announcement of the 2012 Olympic Games to be held in London, the launch of the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) link to and from London City Airport, and the winning of time contests against various high-speed trains on routes that the airline operates, clearly demonstrate that VLM Airlines still has a lot of promising times lying ahead.

Results per route
Belgian market

The Belgian market has remained constant compared to last year. Both the Antwerp-London City route, as the Brussels-London City route offer six return flights every weekday. These two routes promise to be very successful in 2006 as VLM Airlines has clearly demonstrated it is the fastest and most efficient way of travelling to the centre of London both from Antwerp and Brussels. With a new terminal under construction at Antwerp Airport and the recent agreement to cut the trees at the end of the runway, the future of this small airport looks promising. The Antwerp-London City route transported a total of 80.895 passengers in 2005, while the Brussels London City route carried 62.382 passengers. Both routes represent a total of 23,75% of all its scheduled passengers.

Dutch market

With the launch of the Amsterdam-London City route in April last year, VLM Airlines further increased its market share on services between the Netherlands and the UK. With four daily return flights between Amsterdam and London City and eight return flights between Rotterdam and London City, VLM Airlines offers a vast choice to the Dutch business community. Both Dutch routes represent 23,78% of all transported scheduled passengers. Despite growing competition, VLM Airlines has seen an increase of 15% in passenger numbers in 2005 compared to 2004 on the Rotterdam-London City route. The increase is mainly due to the vast number of corporate accounts who book with VLM Airlines because of its convenient schedule and excellent punctuality figures.

The two daily flights between Rotterdam and Hamburg have also seen passenger numbers increase by 7% compared to 2004, demonstrating that a link between these two harbour cities is clearly needed.

Luxembourgish market

With a total increase of 25% in passenger numbers in 2005, this route has proven to be one of the more successful routes of VLM Airlines. In spite of the fierce competition on this route, VLM Airlines demonstrated that it has built up a loyal customer base within the international Luxembourgish business community. This route carried 51.915 passengers in 2005.

UKmarket

The Manchester – London City route, with eight return flights every weekday, transported 112.990 passengers in 2005 and was the largest route within VLM’s network in terms of volume (18.72% of total passenger carryings). Following increased competition from the trains that operate between London and Manchester, capacity was reduced from 10 per day in 2004 to 8 per day in 2005. Since this capacity change, the performance of the route has been growing again.

Over 70.300 passengers were carried on the Liverpool – London City route in 2005, which represents 11.65% of the airline’s total scheduled flights. With five services every weekday, VLM Airlines is the only airline offering direct flights between Liverpool and the centre of London, something which is much appreciated by the Merseyside business community. In the last two months of 2005, all VLM passengers received exclusive free short stay car parking for up to three days and free access to the airport’s executive lounge at Liverpool John Lennon Airport. These added extras have proved highly popular with passengers and the offer has been extended until the end of January

In November 2005, VLM Airlines launched the London City - Isle of Man route with one rotation each weekday, nearly 1.000 people used this service over the past two months.

The Jersey route now operates as a daily return flight from London City and has also proven to be very successful as a connecting flight for passengers departing from Benelux.

Online bookings

Further growth was seen in the number of online bookings made on the flyvlm.com website with an increase of 80% was noted compared to 2004. Currently online bookings represent 27% of all bookings made for the airline. However, travel agents still represent the largest number of bookings, and travel agents are still considered as important partners of VLM Airlines.

Johan Vanneste, Managing Director VLM Airlines says, “2005 has been another successful year for VLM Airlines, and we are very pleased to see a growing number of loyal business passengers choosing to fly to the centre of London with VLM Airlines. I am convinced that increasing numbers of passengers will travel with VLM Airlines to London City in 2006 thanks to the new Docklands Light Railway link and the huge investments that are talking place across the whole East London area, which is at the heart of our operations.”