The rate of growth in passengers flying from UK airports slowed to 2.4% in 2007, the slowest in the last decade.
According to the latest figures released by the Civil Aviation Authority, UK airports handled 241 million passengers during 2007.
“This growth is slower than that seen over the last decade and continues a trend which began in 2005,†said a CAA spokesman.
During 2007, landings and take-offs of commercial aircraft at UK airports grew by 1.8% to 2.5 million.
At the London airports – Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and London City – the increase was 2.6%, with the largest increases at London City (15.9% up) and Luton (5.8% up).
The London airports accounted for 58% of total UK passenger numbers, compared to 58.2% in 2006.
They saw an increase of 2.8 million terminal passengers, or 2% more than in 2006.
The biggest growth in passenger numbers at the London airports was at Gatwick, which served a million more passengers in 2007 than in 2006.
Heathrow, Luton and London City all handled over half a million more passengers each.
London City saw its fourth consecutive year of double-digit percentage growth and is now handling over 2% of all London passengers.
Meanwihle, at regional airports traffic grew by 2.9% to 101 million passengers.
Of the UK airport passengers in 2007, the majority (139.0 million) were bound for, or arriving from Europe – representing an increase of 3.1% from 2006.
The largest increases were in passengers to and from Poland (up by 30.7%), Italy (up by 6%), and Spain (1.8%).
There were 22.4 million passengers on flights to and from North America, an increase from 21.7 million in 2006, and a reversal of the decline in passengers to and from North America seen in 2006.
In 2007, 25.3 million passengers were on domestic flights. This represents a fall of 1.9% on 2006, and is the only market segment where passenger numbers are not increasing.
By Bev Fearis
