EASYJET has managed to pull out of a dive in its passenger numbers at Liverpool John Lennon Airport – but rival Ryanair finished the year in a steep decline.

New 2009 figures released by the airport showed the contrasting fortunes of its two biggest operators as the recession hit the travel trade last year.

Statistics compiled by support group the Friends of Liverpool Airport (FoLA) show Easyjet recovered from falling passenger numbers far quicker.

Overall, JLA saw an 8.1% decline in passenger numbers which totalled 4.95m for 2009.

But the figures produced by FoLA member Keith Hardwick showed Easyjet suffered a relatively modest 4% fall in passenger numbers, flying 2.33m to and from JLA last year.

Ryanair lost 12.9%, flying 2.17m people.

Easyjet even managed to record its highest ever monthly passenger figure since it started flying from JLA in 1997, with 260,000 customers being carried last August. The airline experienced falls of 19.7%, 22.2% and 17.7% in the first three months of 2009, but quickly recovered so that by June it was showing losses of only 1.7% on its Liverpool routes.

From then on it climbed into positive territory, showing a 12.7% gain in November.