Leading leisure airline Monarch saw passenger numbers continue to soar in January with over 185,000 holiday makers escaping to sunshine hotspots across Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Cyprus – a 24.07% increase on the same month last year and the highest number of passengers ever carried in the month of January.

The soaring passenger numbers were assisted with Monarch’s new twice-weekly winter flights from Gatwick and Manchester to the Balearic Island of Majorca.

Monarch’s passenger statistics for scheduled services during January 2011:

Passenger numbers (1):
January 2011: 185,191
January 2010: 149,258
% change: +24.07%

Load factors (2):
January 2011: 78.74%
January 2010: 76.75%
% change: +1.99%

1. Represents the number of earned seats flown by Monarch. Earned seats include seats that are flown whether or not the passenger turns up because once a flight has departed a no-show customer is not entitled to change flights or seek a refund.

2. Represents the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seats available for passengers.