Review 2021

A Very Quiet Start to the Year


With the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing, 2021 did not get off to the best start. Whilst KLM operated a limited number of rotations at the start of January to Amsterdam, the service soon had to be suspended for the third time during the pandemic, after new national restrictions were imposed in England, whilst the Dutch government restricted travel from the UK into their country.


The usual helicopter operations in connection with offshore energy continued operating, alongside a single weekday rotation by Eastern Airways on their scheduled service to Aberdeen, with an en-route stop in Teesside; Eastern usually using an Embraer 145 Monday to Thursday and a Jetstream 41 on Fridays. Occasional charters and business jets, plus military training and Eastern Airways positioning flights, comprised the remaining flying activity, with the airport opening hours restricted to Monday to Friday daytimes unless requested otherwise.


COVID-19 testing continued in Car Park 3, with the site testing lorry drivers prior to them sailing from Immingham or Killingholme to Continental Europe for part of January and February, before returning to general public use until the testing operation closed down.


Some Limited Improvements


A small increase in activity occurred in March as Eastern Airways reintroduced a Sunday service to Aberdeen, using a Jetstream 41, via Teesside northbound and non-stop southbound; the Friday northbound flight also converted to non-stop at the same time. This meant the airport reopening on Sundays on a regular basis, albeit only for two hours in the afternoon.


Spring saw some small-scale development at the airport, as Frank Morgan School of Flying installed a small prefabricated building for their operations adjacent to Salfina’s Hangar 2 and close to the security gatehouse.


None of Humberside’s regular charter flights operated for Summer 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with both Balkan Holidays twice weekly Bourgas service and TUI’s weekly Palma flight suspended for the second year in a row. Unlike in 2020 however, the Summer Saturday Jersey service did recommence; after operation by Loganair in 2019, now Humberside’s own Eastern Airways flew the service. As has been common place in recent years, the service was officially a scheduled service and available for booking direct with the airline, but most seats were sold by tour operators CI Travel Group and Premier Holidays. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Jersey service commenced slightly later than usual, on 19th June, operating until 25th September. Eastern Airways used their ATR-72-600’s on the route each week, which was their first new service from Humberside Airport in 19 years (an Edinburgh link was briefly operated in 2002).


After an approximately 6.5 month suspension, KLM returned with their Amsterdam service on 28th June, which then operated on a less than daily basis for the rest of the year, very significantly reduced from 19 or 20 flights per week pre COVID-19.


Eastern Airways amended their Aberdeen service from 6th September after withdrawing from the Teesside to Aberdeen route. They converted their weekday Humberside to Aberdeen flights to a non-stop service with all Sunday flights operating via Newcastle in both directions; Jetstream 41’s were scheduled on all rotations from this point. From 18th October a second daily Humberside to Aberdeen rotation was added most Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays but this extra frequency was removed from the 1st December onwards. As a comparison, pre COVID-19 Eastern Airways operated three times daily to Aberdeen Monday to Thursday, twice on Fridays and once on Sundays.


Ending the Year


A notable movement occurred on 2nd October, when La Compagnie A321neo F-HNCO positioned in from Paris Orly to operate a charter to Antigua, via an en-route stop at Santa Maria in the Azores. ‘Sister’ La Compagnie A321neo F-HBUZ operated the return non-stop from Antigua on 10th October.


Some Christmas cheer did occur as the regular December Lapland charters were able to operate, with two daytrips to Pajala, one daytrip to Enontekio and one short break to Enontekio provided by Newmarket Holidays (Pajala) and Transun (Enontekio).


Conclusion


For the year, CAA Statistics record that Humberside Airport handled:

  • 31,534 Terminal and Transit Passengers

  • 31,503 Terminal Passengers

  • 31 Transit Passengers

  • 14,224 Passengers to Oil Rigs (which includes offshore wind related flights), notably up 92% on 2020 as construction of the Hornsea Two Offshore Wind Farm continued, using Humberside Airport as a construction base.

  • 6,723 Passengers on the Eastern Airways Aberdeen service

  • 5,726 Passengers on the KLM Amsterdam service

  • 1,280 Passengers on the Eastern Airways Jersey service

  • 84 Tonnes of Freight

  • 11,973 Movements

(Domestic route data is taken from the Humberside Airport data, not the Aberdeen or Jersey data which is different).


Overall 2021 was another difficult year thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the ‘bright spot’ of Offshore Wind related flights failing to make up for disappointments elsewhere, as Aberdeen, Amsterdam and Summer Seasonal flights were all much reduced compared to the last ‘normal’ year in 2019.


Sources


My own notes and observations plus:


Section last updated 24th April 2022.