The Airport Operators Association (AOA) has warned regional airports, including Blackpool, are facing a tough time because of falling traffic.

Figures, released by the AOA, claim the amount of traffic passing through Blackpool Airport was down by 70 per cent at the end of March.

Nationally, traffic at airports is down 15 per cent.

But bosses at the Squires Gate terminal forecast passenger numbers will be down by 30 per cent during 2009, not 70 per cent.

And they are blaming the departure of Ryanair, which made up half the flights at the airport, in January, and stress they are confident of growing passenger numbers for the rest of the year.

The AOA blamed budget carriers for squeezing costs, but airlines say extra charges have forced travellers away.

The Government said it was committed to helping business during the downturn.

Airports have insisted that a shortfall in income has forced them to introduce extra charges for services such as fast-track security or car drop-offs for passengers.

Blackpool has introduced an Airport Development Fee, which charges all passengers over the age of 15 £10 to travel through the departure lounge.

Luton, Leeds Bradford and Liverpool all charge a £3 fee to fast-track passengers through security.

Smaller airports had seen fewer passengers than expected through the winter, said Neil Pakey of the AOA. He added: “There’s no doubt about it, most budgets haven’t been met.

“What it has done is its made airports more inventive than they have been before bringing in new types of projects, the fast lane initiative through security or priority lane is just one of those, these are designed not to be mandatory in most cases but to give the passengers additional choice.”

Despite the recession, bosses at the Squires Gate terminal are pushing ahead with £2.5m of improvements. The cash will be used to renovate the exterior and interior of the airport.

A spokesman for Blackpool Airport said: “On a like-for-like basis we are forecasting growth, passenger load factors this year are already at 85-90 per cent and it proves that we are attracting, through marketing and our free passenger parking initiative, more travellers from across Lancashire and the Lake District to use their regional airport.”