Fastest Growing London Airports

The latest figures of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) indicate that London city airport and Luton airport are the London’s fastest growing airports.
London city airport saw an increase of 15.9% in the landings and take-offs, while for Luton, the figure was lower at 5.8%. The passengers handled by these two airports also increased by more than 500000 in 2007. Heathrow airport also saw a similar increase in passenger numbers. But, in terms of number of passengers, the biggest growth story was that of Gatwick airport, which showed a boost of about 1 million.
However, seen in a larger context, the overall growth in the passenger numbers at all the UK airports is just 2.4%, which since 2005, has been following a downward trend.
Regional airports also saw a passenger influx of 101 million – a growth of 2.9% as compared to previous year. Annually, more than 5 million passengers are using nine regional airports – Belfast International Airport, Birmingham Airport, Bristol Airport, East Midlands Airport, Glasgow Airport, Edinburgh Airport, Liverpool Airport, Manchester Airport and Newcastle Airport.
New trends, as indicated by figures, are emerging in the air sector. The number of passengers from and to Poland increased the most by 30.7% or by about 1 million. Similarly, number of passengers going to or coming from North America, which were down the previous year, also showed an increase. Numbers of passengers for Ireland showed the greatest reduction- by 0.8 % in 2007, in contrast with the 4.8% growth in the previous year. Domestic segment is also failing in numbers with an overall decline of 1.9% in passenger numbers.
On the other hand, passengers on flights going to or coming from the Middle East and Australasia showed a rise of 10% in 2007 as compared to the previous year. There is also a reduced trend of charter flights as reflected in a 4.6% reduction in their bookings in 2007.

www.caa.co.uk