Liverpool John Lennon Airport breaks through the 5m passengers barrier – its highest figure in 13 years – but Ryanair rules out further expansion at Liverpool in 2025 after investing £160m in 2023 and 2024. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) has broken through the 5m passengers a year barrier for the first time in five years.

On Thursday LJLA said it handled 5.08m passengers in 2024. This is the highest number since 2011 when it carried 5.3m passengers. It is also the first time it has gone above 5m since 2019 when it handled 5.045m. Its highest ever figure was 5.5m passengers in 2007.

And that figure could be within reach in 2025 with further expansion planned by Jet2 and Jet2 Holidays which began flying from Liverpool for the first time in 2024. However, Irish budget carrier Ryanair has ruled out further expansion in 2025.

LJLA said: “We finished 2024 with 5.08m passengers – a 21% increase on the prior year, and our highest annual passenger number since 2011. A big thank you to all of our passengers for choosing to fly to and from Liverpool John Lennon Airport over the past 12 months.”

Ryanair is to take delivery of 29 new Boeing 737 aircraft in 2025 in a £2.4bn investment but says UK airports such as Liverpool will not see a single one of them.

In the last few days the Irish carrier has confirmed it will not be basing any of the new aircraft at airports in countries where aviation taxes will rise. These include the UK, France and Germany.

Prior to the election of the Labour Government in July 2024, the previous Conservative administration had already announced rises in Air Passenger Duty (APD) to come into force in April 2025. APD is a tax levied on every flight taking off from a UK airport.

In her first Budget in October 2024, Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced further APD rises for April 2026. She said the levy had not kept up with inflation but insisted it would mean “an increase of no more than £2 for an economy class short-haul flight”.

Ryanair announced two £80m investments at Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) in 2023 and 2024, increasing the number of routes and creating new jobs. The airline currently operates more than 30 routes out of LJLA.

However, on both occasions it accompanied the announcement with warnings of the risk APD posed to future investment at UK airports.

In an interview with LBN in April 2024, Ryanair’s head of communications, Jade Kirwan, said: “For regional UK airports APD plays a huge role and if you are looking for those £20 fares they are just not as achievable when there is a cost in the middle.”

And in the last few days Jade has confirmed that new Ryanair investment in 2025 would focus on “efficient, low-cost airports in EU countries where governments are stimulating aviation growth”. They included, she added, Sweden, Italy, Spain, and Poland.

She explained: “While most of Europe’s airlines remain capacity constrained, Ryanair is on track to take delivery of 29 new Boeing 737 aircraft in 2025.

“This additional capacity will enable Ryanair to grow our passengers from 200m in 2024 to 210m in 2025, and create 2,000 new jobs for highly paid aviation professionals at many of Europe’s most efficient, low-cost airports.”

In March 2024 Jet2 and Jet2 Holidays began flying from Liverpool for the first time. This has boosted passenger numbers along with extra routes announced by easyJet and Ryanair.

In early September it was revealed the airport had been named the UK’s best airport for the second year running in a survey of thousands of air travellers.