Birmingham International Airport (BIA) handled 576,130 passengers during January, including 476,507 scheduled passengers and 99,623 charter passengers spread across the two passenger terminals; a decrease of 0.1% over the previous year.
Source: BIA (BHX) own website.......
In Jan 2008 Natal handled a total (int+ domestic) 185000 or less than half of Birmingham. Plus Natal is peak season in January, BHX low season. These are the real dimensions. So when people talk of "massive boom" coming in Natal due to a new airport it has a long long way to go to get to Birmingham's figures and is miles and miles away from Malaga or Faro. So the largest airport in South America, when it is built, allegedly in 2010 it might get near to Birmingham's numbers of 2008, (2 years prior).
People should think about this very carefully when they read websites claiming that Natal will become a huge gateway just because and even if they complete their airport more likely in 2015.
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