Air Travel in Decline
Air Travel in Decline
There has been a continued decline in the number of airline passengers travelling from the UK. A continued decline in passenger figures is being reported by all of the UK’s busiest and most popular regional airports.
It is some of the most popular routes from the UK that are the most seriously affected with as much as a 16% fall in passengers travelling to Spain and a drop of one in ten travelling to the United States from London. Some regional UK airports are more badly affected than others with Prestwick reporting a fall in business of around 25% and Gatwick reporting a drop in passenger figures of around 2 million.
Business travellers are down by 15% in the first quarter of 2009, according to the Guild of Travel Management Companies. Surveys are indicating that this is the fourth consecutive quarter in which demand for air transport from the UK has decreased.
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.
There have been some optimistic reports of what are described as the green shoots of recovery suggesting that the worst of the recession is over. 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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