Continued Decline in Demand for Air Transport
The number of people taking to the skies from the UK is continuing to decline. Britain’s 33 busiest airports are all reporting lower passenger figures for the first 8 months of this year.
Some of the most popular flight destinations from the UK are the most acutely affected with a 16% fall in passengers travelling to Spain and 10% fewer travelling to the United States from London. Certain UK airports have been more badly affected by the downturn in air travel with Gatwick airport reporting a loss of 2 million passengers and traffic at Prestwick airport down by 25%.
There has been a fall of aroung 15% in business travellers during the first quarter of 2009 according to the Guild of Travel Management Companies. Surveys show that passenger figures have consistently declined for four consecutive quarters.
The continued decrease in demand for air transport is generally thought to be due to the recession along with the falling value of sterling against other currencies. Many people have opted to staycation this year instead of flying to traditional holiday destinations in Spain or America.
There are some airlines making cutbacks due to this persistent decline in demand. Budget airline BMIBaby has announced that it will shrink in size by as much as one third during 2010 with cuts in routes from Cardiff, Birmigham and Manchester. British Airways have announced that they have been forced to reduce the number of cabin crew on flights from Heathrow due to the unprecedented losses they had suffered during the peak summer months.
While there have been reports that some are seeing what are described as the green shoots of recovery suggesting that the recession is coming to an end. Unfortunately for airports and airlines it looks like there is a long way to go before passenger figures recover to their pre-recession levels.
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