Slump in Air Passengers Continues
November 14th, 2009 by stevinium, under Air Travel, World Travel. No Comments
The number of air passengers travelling from the UK has continued to fall. A continued decline in passenger figures is being reported by all of the UK’s busiest and most popular regional airports.
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. Some airports are more acutely affected by the downturn in business than others with Gatwick reporting a drop in passenger figures of around 2 million and Prestwick airport reporting as much as a 25% reduction in business.
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 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 British holidaymakers have opted to stay at home this year instead of flying to traditional vacation 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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