AIR TRAVEL
FIGURE 55: UK TOP-10 PASSENGER AIRPORTS Passenger numbers
% change 2023 v 2019 -4
-14
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
0 *12 months to October 2023 Figures rounded Source: CAA
fossil fuel. The intention of the industry is to go to net zero, but it involves huge investment and infrastructure.”
AIRPORT EXPANSION
The Climate Change Committee which advises the government warned in July that the UK is making slow progress on reducing emissions and should halt airport expansion. The committee made 27 “priority
recommendations” of which “no airport expansion without a UK-wide capacity management framework” was one, with a framework “operational by the end of 2024”. Thereafter, “there should be no net airport expansion unless the carbon intensity of aviation is outperforming the government’s emissions reduction pathway and can accommodate the additional demand”. The committee noted aviation was
responsible for 7% of UK CO2 emissions in 2022 despite air traffic being 25% lower than in 2019. UK aviation emissions will be required to fall 17% on that 2022 figure by 2035 to hit the government’s reduction target – less than every other
-6 -2 -12 -4 -11 +8 -18 -9
sector of the economy. But the committee warned aviation still won’t hit its target without blocking airport expansion. However, Department for Transport
2022 2023
aviation director David Silk told industry leaders in November: “Our approach [is] to reach ‘net neutrality’ by 2050 while allowing growth. We want people to fly to generate the revenue to be able to decarbonise.”
SAFETY CULTURE
The new year was no sooner under way than a disaster was only narrowly avoided when part of the fuselage on a Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft blew out at 16,000 feet. All passengers and crew on the Alaska Airlines flight from Portland to California landed safely, but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered the grounding of 171 similar aircraft. The incident raised fresh questions
FLIGHT punctuality has
declined at the UK’s biggest airports compared with 2019
(Figures 52 & 53). Airline staff numbers have recovered
post-pandemic (Figure 54). Heathrow recovered more
strongly than other UK airports in 2023 (Figure 55). The
average number of seats on flights is rising (Figure 56)
about the safety culture at Boeing since the Max, introduced in 2017 and the fourth generation of 737, was grounded from March 2019 to November 2020 after two fatal crashes due to a faulty flight control system. Max production lines were already subject to delays, forcing Ryanair – which operates a wholly Boeing fleet – to cut its winter schedule after O’Leary complained Boeing “have yet again delayed deliveries”. The delays appear likely to continue.
FIGURE 56: AVERAGE SEATS & LOAD FACTORS ON UK FLIGHTS Seats
100 150 200
50 0 Average seats per flight
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Average load factor*
78% 79% 80% 81% 163 162
156 158
82.5% 165
84% 166
84% 170
164 165 61% 57% 177
79% 82.5% 182
% 100
20 40 60 80
0 *Load factor data rounded Source: CAA
Travel Weekly Insight Report 2024 43
Passengers (million) 56m 78m 30m 40m 21.9m 27.6m 21.7m 27.6m 3m 12.5m 16m 10.5m 14m 9m 11.3m
6.3m 7.6m
7.2m
5.7m 4.8m
9.7m
2.5m 2.3m 2.1m 2.1m
7.1m 6.2m 6.1m
4.7m
Heathrow Gatwick
Manchester Stansted
Luton Edinburgh Birmingham Bristol
Glasgow Belfast Intl
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