Passengers Choosing Not to Fly
The number of people taking to the skies from the UK is continuing to decline. All of the UK’s most popular and busy airports have reported further declines in passenger figures for the first 8 months of this year.
Many of the most popular destinations from the UK are the worst affected with a fall of 1 in 10 passengers to the United States and a drop of 1 in 6 passengers travelling from London to New York. 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. This is the fourth consecutive quarter in which surveys have shown a consistent decline in passengers.
It is thought that the decline has been fuelled by the fall in value of sterling along with the recession.There are many British holidaymakers who have chosen to spend their vacations closer to home this year rather than fly to Spain or America.
Some airlines are cutting back on services as a result of the 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 the air transport industry it looks like there is some way to go before passenger figures return to the pre-recession highs.
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