Airport passenger numbers in UK plunge by 7.4%

A big dip in holiday airline traffic meant UK airports handled 7.4 per cent fewer passengers last year than in 2008 - the largest annual decline since records began 65 years ago, it was announced yesterday.

2008 and last year represented the first time that passenger numbers fell for two successive years, the Civil Aviation Authority said.

The 216.8 million passenger total for last year meant annual figures fell to their lowest level since 2004.

Charter airline numbers fell 17 per cent in 2009 compared with 2008, while UK domestic flight traffic was down eight per cent and scheduled airline traffic fell six per cent.

Much of the overall passenger decrease came in the first part of last year, with numbers down 12.5 per cent in the January-March 2009 period. The decline in the last three months of last year was only 3.8 per cent compared with October-December 2008.

The decline at the five London airports - Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and London City - was 4.9 per cent overall, with the largest declines in percentage terms at London City (14.2 per cent down), Stansted (10.7 per cent down) and Luton (10.4 per cent5 down).

Heathrow had the smallest decline among London airports, handling 66 million passengers in 2009 - only 1.5 per cent fewer than in 2008.

Gatwick handled 32 million passengers - a 5.3 per cent fall on 2008.

At the regional airports - those other than the London airports - traffic last year fell 10.7 per cent to 88 million passengers. Manchester, the largest regional airport, saw passenger numbers plunge by 11.5 per cent to 2.4 million, while at Birmingham airport they dropped by five per cent to 483,000.

During last year, air transport movements (landings and take-offs of commercial aircraft) at UK airports fell by 8.8 per cent to 2.1 million, which is also the largest annual drop since the 1940s.

CAA economic regulation director Harry Bush said: "Today's figures show the biggest fall in passenger numbers since the World War II, highlighting the enormous impact the recession has had on the aviation industry. "Passenger numbers are now back to the level they were six years ago and, although they will certainly rebound, the pace of recovery is uncertain and it could be a number of years before they reach their peak level again."