The boom in regional flights pushed passenger numbers on UK local departures past 100 million last year, outstripping growth at London’s airports.
But the head of the country’s leading regional airport group warns growth may have reached a plateau.
Regional traffic has tripled since 1990, with local airports handling 42% of all UK passengers last year, according to a report by the Civil Aviation Authority.
Growth in international services has outpaced domestic flying from regional airports since 2002, with overseas traffic doubling in the four years to 2006. Eight regional airports now offer daily scheduled services to 12 or more international destinations.
Yet Manchester Airport Group chief executive Geoff Muirhead says this year has seen slowdown. He told Travel Weekly: “We have seen marginal overall growth in the UK this year for the first time, and that is without a shock such as a security scare. A market that is flat or growing 1% is very unusual.”
Muirhead blamed a combination of factors, including a “saturated” low-cost market. “People are worried about the cost of borrowing and more reluctant to take on debt,” he said.
“The rail network to London has improved and there is an element of people taking account of environmental concerns. It has flattened the market.”
A CAA study released last week, Air Services at UK Regional Airports, notes growth at the airports slowed to 4% last year from annual rates of 9%-11% in 2003/2005. Growth at London’s airports still lagged behind at 2.5%, but domestic traffic stagnated across the board.
The proportion of passengers travelling to London to take a flight fell from 60% in 2000 to 50% in 2005, and traffic on flights to Heathrow was down a further 10% last year.