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Decline in UK domestic aviation

After years of growth, the number of UK domestic air passengers has been falling since April 2019.

The December 2019 total was 6% lower than the December 2018 figure.

These figures are taken from the Civil Aviation Authority monthly reports [1] (Table 10.2).

The fall in the first quarter of 2018 coincided with the "Beast from the East" prolonged severe cold weather, during which many domestic flights were cancelled [2].

It looks as if the UK has passed peak domestic air travel, in line with Sweden [3] and Germany [4].

References

[1]	Civil Aviation Authority https://www.caa.co.uk/Data-and-analysis/UK-aviation-market/Airports/Datasets/UK-airport-data/
[2]	'Mini Beast from the East' brings snow and ice to parts of UK (17 March 2018) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43439807
[3]	Decline in domestic aviation in Sweden https://www.carbonindependent.org/82.html

[4]	German Air Travel Slump Points to Spread of Flight Shame (Dec 2019) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-19/german-air-travel-slump-points-to-spread-of-flight-shame

First published: Nov 2019
Last updated: 11 Feb 2020