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UK air travel growth slows to a crawl

Airline passenger growth in the UK has been stunted by the renewed popularity of rail travel and a weakening of consumer confidence, according to an aviation industry regulator report.

The UK has fallen behind in the European air travel market, as 14 European Union countries outpace Britain. The Civil Aviation Authorities said the average annual growth rate of passenger numbers in the UK has risen at a mere 2% growth rate over the past two years, compared to the steady average of 6% since the mid-70s.

However, the UK air travel market is still a global leader in size, with almost 230 million passengers passing through UK airports yearly. The report predicted a strong future for passenger number growth, indicating that the figures will nearly double by 2030, reaching 465 million passengers per year.

CAA's director of economic regulation, Harry Bush, said the withering growth rates over the past two years have been prompted by a decreasing growth rate of consumer expenditure, which has especially affected the large market for holidays abroad.

"This is the result of slowing consumer expenditure and confidence, which is feeding through into air passenger travel," Bush said.

He pointed to the renewed popularity of rail travel as a contributing factor to domestic air travel's decreasing growth rates. The train service between London and Manchester has regained momentum since its recovery from the Hatfield crash in 2000.

"As rail has got better than it was, post-Hatfield, we are seeing it eat into domestic air travel," Bush said.

The report did not acknowledge environmental concern as a significant factor in decreasing rates, pointing to a Commission for Integrated Transport poll that indicated people were more likely to fly less for financial reasons than for environmental reasons.


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Zoe Westof Editorial


11/01/2008



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