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SCOTTISH TRANSPORT STATISTICS No 22 - 2003 Edition
Chapter 9 AIR TRANSPORT
1. Introduction
1.1 This chapter provides information on air transport, such as passenger numbers by origin, destination, and type of service, amount of freight carried, air transport movements, and income and expenditure figures of airline authorities.
2. Main Points
2.1 There were almost 19.8 million air terminal passengers in 2002, about 1.7 million (9%) more than in the previous year. Over the ten years from 1992 to 2002, terminal passengers have increased by 91%. ( Table 9.1)
2.2 There were about 7.8 million terminal passengers at Glasgow airport in 2002, a 7% increase on the previous year, Edinburgh airport had 6.9 million (up 14%) and Aberdeen had just over 2.5 million, an increase of 1%. Together these three airports accounted for 87% of the total. Over the past ten years, the increases at these airports were: Edinburgh 172%; Glasgow 66%; and Aberdeen 18%. ( Table 9.1)
2.3 There was also a large increase in the numbers of passengers at Prestwick (1,486,000 in 2002: 254,000 more than in 2001). ( Table 9.1)
2.4 In 2002, London Heathrow accounted for 34% of passengers on selected domestic routes to and from Aberdeen, 31% for Edinburgh and 33% of the total for Glasgow and Prestwick taken together. London Gatwick and Luton have the largest numbers of domestic passengers for Inverness. Other domestic routes with large passenger numbers included Glasgow/Prestwick to Stansted, Luton and Belfast, and Edinburgh to Gatwick, Stansted and Luton: routes which show large increases in patronage over the past ten years. (It should be noted that the table does not cover all domestic routes - it excludes some of the smaller domestic routes.) ( Table 9.2)
2.5 The most popular country of origin/destination for passengers flying directly to and from Scottish airports was Spain (excluding the Canary Islands) with almost 1.3 million passenger journeys in 2002, roughly one fifth of all passengers on direct flights abroad. Other popular origins/destinations were the Netherlands (nearly 1.1 million passengers), the Irish Republic (1.0 million) and the Canary Islands (0.7 million passengers). In each case, the number of passengers is considerably greater than five or ten years earlier. ( Table 9.3)
2.6 The overwhelming majority of passengers to/from Spain and the Canary Islands took charter flights, whereas almost all those who travelled to/from the Irish Republic or the Netherlands used scheduled flights. ( Table 9.4)
2.7 The most popular international airports (those with the largest numbers of passenger journeys for flights directly to and from Scotland's main airports in 2002) were Amsterdam with nearly 1,057,000 passengers and Dublin with over 989,000 passengers. ( Table 9.5)
2.8 In 2002, 6% of all terminal passenger traffic was to/from other Scottish airports, 58% was to/from other parts of the UK, and 25% was between Scotland and mainland Europe, of which just over a half was to/from Glasgow Airport. ( Table 9.6)
2.9 The total number of aircraft movements in 2002 was 473,295. Edinburgh had the highest number of aircraft movements with around 118,000, of which 93% were commercial movements, and aircraft movements at both Glasgow and Aberdeen in 2002 were about 104,000 and 100,000 respectively. ( Table 9.8)
2.10 Air freight carried in 2002 rose by about 100 tonnes over the previous year to 72,602 tonnes. Freight at Edinburgh increased by 5,063 tonnes to just over 21,200 tonnes. There was a 8% decrease at Prestwick, to 39,500 tonnes. Freight through Glasgow fell by 15% to just over 5,000 tonnes. ( Table 9.12)
2.11 BAA's operating profit for the three main airports (Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow) increased by 2% on the previous year to 55.3 million. The operating profit in 2001-02 at Glasgow was 25.2 million, at Edinburgh 20.1 million, and at Aberdeen 10 million. Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd recorded a loss of 1.461 million for 2001-02. (Tables 9.13 & 9.14)
3. Notes and Definitions
3.1 Aircraft Movement: an aircraft take-off or landing at an airport: one arrival and one departure are counted as two movements. Air transport movements are landings or take-offs of aircraft engaged in the transport of passengers or cargo on commercial terms. All scheduled service movements, whether loaded, empty or positioning; and charter movements transporting passengers or cargo and air taxi movements are included.
3.2 Terminal Passenger: a passenger joining or leaving an aircraft at the reporting airport, excluding passengers carried on air taxi charter services. A passenger travelling between 2 reporting airports is counted twice, once at each airport. A Transit passenger is one who arrives at and departs from a reporting airport on the same aircraft which is transiting the airport. Each transit passenger is counted once only.
3.3 Freight: the weight of property carried out on an aircraft including, for example the weight of vehicles, excess baggage, and diplomatic bags, but excluding mail and passengers' and crews' permitted luggage. Freight carried on air taxi services and in transit through the airport on the same aircraft is excluded.
3.4 International Services: services flown between the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, and places outside.
3.5 International and Domestic Destinations: the figures in Tables 9.2 to 9.7 are based on the origin and destination of passengers as reported to UK airport authorities by UK and foreign airlines. Operators are required to report in respect of each service operated, the point of uplift and discharge of each passenger. The figures may not reflect a passenger's entire air journey: the point at which a passenger disembarks from a particular service may not represent his ultimate destination. In some cases the actual point of uplift or discharge is not recorded. In such cases all passengers are allocated to the end point of the service, i.e. the aircraft's origin or ultimate destination. The figures include all passengers carried on scheduled and chartered services excluding those charter passengers carried on air taxi service and passengers carried on aircraft chartered by Government Departments. In Tables 9.3 and 9.4, international traffic figures are given for each country for which scheduled traffic was reported. In cases where charter only routes carried less than 5,000 passengers, the countries concerned do not appear in Table 9.3, and are shown under "Other international traffic …" in Table 9.4.
4. Sources
4.1 Tables 9.1 to 9.12 are compiled from information supplied by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
4.2 Tables 9.13 was compiled by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd.
4.3 Table 9.14 was compiled from information supplied by BAA Scottish Airports Ltd.
5. Further Information
5.1 Further information on UK civil aviation is available in the CAA's regular publications.
5.2 For further information on UK civil aviation contact Mrs D McLean of the Civil Aviation Authority (tel: 0207 453 6258)
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