East Midlands Airport expects 160,000 passengers during festive season Nottingham

East Midlands Airport has said it expects approximately 160,000 flight passengers to travel to and from the airport during the Christmas period.

The figures are slightly down from last year's festive season (170,000), which runs between today (December 19th) and January 2nd.

According to the airport's predictions, over 13,000 passengers will fly each day on December 19th, 26th and 27th and January 2nd.

Commenting on the figures, Penny Coates, managing director at East Midlands Airport, said that the airport was expecting passenger numbers to fall "in the short term".

"Christmas is traditionally a busy time for the airport and although this year we are not seeing the growth in passenger numbers, we are confident about 2009."

Most flight passengers will be travelling to the Canary Islands, with Dublin expected to be the second most popular destination.

Three flights will operate to and from Nottingham East Midlands on Christmas Day, with services between Las Palmas, Lanzarote and Sharm el Sheikh.

The airport enjoyed a 14.5 percent increase in passenger numbers between 2006 and 2007, making it the 12th busiest airport in the UK in terms of passenger traffic.