SOUTHAMPTON Airport has seen a reduction of almost 40,000 passengers in just two months.

Between June and July of this year, the total number of passengers fell by 38,202.

In July this year, 182,863 travellers passed through the airport while in the same month this figure stood at 201,243.

The difference of 18,380 passengers is a 9 per cent decrease, according to the reports published by the Civil Aviation Authority.

In June 2019, reports show that 167,811 passengers travelled through the airport which is 19,822 less than June 2018 and a decrease of 11 per cent

According to a Southampton Airport spokesperson, the “slight drop” in passengers is being experienced across the industry in the UK this year.

The spokesperson said: “Growth is predicted but is going to take a while following the current economic uncertainty.

“It is attributable to a number of factors across the industry, one of those key factors being uncertainty over Brexit causing people to plan “staycations”.

“Our message to them is and has been to continue to book with confidence as flights will continue no matter what happens with Brexit.”

The spokesperson added: “This is a temporary decrease which in no way undermines or impacts our growth plans. Very much the opposite, our plans to extend the runway and improve and enhance the terminal continue at full-speed and we look forward to an exciting future. By extending the runway, we will further enable sustainable growth and improve choice and connectivity for our passengers and significantly increase our economic contribution to the region.”

As previously reported, the airport suffered a decrease of almost 70,000 passengers in five months with experts blaming Brexit.

Between January and May of this year, the total number of passenger fell by 67,868.

Welcoming 699,108 air travellers overall, it is an 8.8 per cent decrease from the year before which saw 766,973 passengers pass through in the same period.

The number of bookings for this May was 23,541 less than last year.

According to the airport, this was due to BMI Regional pulling out of Southampton Airport and partially due to Brexit.

Despite these falls, earlier in September airport bosses announced plans to put on extra flights to two of Europe’s most popular cities.

There will be an extra 18 flights a week to Amsterdam and Paris this winter.

The flights boost, from Flybe, means there will be up to five flights a day to Amsterdam and up to three flights a day to Paris’ Charles De Gaulle airport.