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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, flight punctuality, amount of freight carried,
air transport movements, and income and expenditure figures
of airline authorities.
1.2 The main changes in this edition are the inclusion
of two new tables:
- 9.3(b) Scheduled
International passenger traffic to/from the main
Scottish International airports.
- 9.16 Passengers on services
which were supported, in that year, by the Route
Development Fund.
In addition, the figures in
Table 9.2 for 2002 onwards have
been revised, to include non-paying passengers, for
consistency with other tables, and
Table 9.3 has been revised to
reflect the new membership of the
EU.
2.
Main Points
2.1 There were 22.6 million air terminal passengers in
2004, about 1.5 million (7%) more than in the previous
year. Over the ten years from 1994 to 2004, terminal
passengers have increased by 91%.
(
Table 9.1)
2.2 There were about 8.6 million terminal passengers at
Glasgow airport in 2004, a 5% increase on the previous
year, Edinburgh airport had around 8.0 million (up 7%),
Aberdeen had just over 2.6 million, (up 5%) and Glasgow
Prestwick had almost 2.2 million (up 16%). Together these
four airports accounted for 95% of the total. Over the past
ten years, the increases at these airports were: Edinburgh
167%; Glasgow 57%; and Aberdeen 25%; Glasgow Prestwick's
numbers have increased many times over, having been 135,000
ten years ago.
(
Table 9.1)
2.3 In 2004, London Heathrow accounted for 38% of
passengers on selected domestic routes to and from
Aberdeen, 29% for Edinburgh and 34% of the total for
Glasgow. 80% of the domestic passengers using Glasgow
Prestwick were travelling to/from Stansted. London Gatwick
had 49% of the domestic passengers to/from Inverness. Other
domestic routes with large passenger numbers included those
between Edinburgh and Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and Belfast,
and between Glasgow and Luton, Belfast, Stansted and
Gatwick: 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)
2.4 The most popular country of origin/destination for
passengers flying directly to and from Scottish airports
was Spain (excluding the Canary Islands) with almost 1.7
million passenger journeys in 2004, roughly 21% of all
passengers on direct flights abroad. Other popular
origins/destinations were the Netherlands (just over 1.0
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)
2.5 The 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)
2.6 The most popular international airports (those with
the largest numbers of passenger journeys for flights
directly to and from Scotland's main airports in 2004) were
Amsterdam with over 1.0 million passengers and Dublin with
over 0.8 million passengers.
(
Table 9.5)
2.7 In 2004, 5% of all terminal passenger traffic was
to/from other Scottish airports, 57% was to/from other
parts of the
UK, and 28% was between Scotland and
mainland Europe, of which around half was to/from Glasgow
Airport.
(
Table 9.6)
2.8 In 2004, the overall average delay was 14 minutes
for flights to or from both Edinburgh and Glasgow airports.
(
Section 3.6 describes the basis for these
figures.) Around 12% of flights to or from both airports
were delayed by more than 30 minutes.
(
Table 9.8)
2.9 The total number of aircraft movements in 2004 was
about 514,000. Edinburgh had the highest number of aircraft
movements with around 125,000, of which 94% were commercial
movements, and aircraft movements at both Glasgow and
Aberdeen in 2004 were about 108,000 and 99,000
respectively.
(
Table 9.9)
2.10 Air freight carried in 2004 rose by 1,121 tonnes
over the previous year to 77,572 tonnes. Freight at
Edinburgh increased by 2,615 tonnes to 27,376 tonnes. There
was a 15% decrease at Glasgow Prestwick, to 34,102 tonnes.
Freight through Glasgow rose by 65% to 8,122 tonnes.
(
Table 9.13)
2.11
BAA's operating profit for the three
main airports (Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow) decreased
by £2.5 million on the previous year to £52.9 million. The
operating profit in 2003-04 at Glasgow was £21.5 million,
at Edinburgh £22.9 million, and at Aberdeen £8.7 million.
Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd recorded a loss of
£713,000 for 2003-04.
(
Tables 9.14 &
9.15)
2.12 There was a total of over 820,000 passengers on
services which were supported by the Route Development Fund
in the 2004-05 financial year, of which the largest numbers
were for Glasgow/Dubai (142,000), Glasgow Prestwick/Girona
(97,000) and Glasgow Prestwick/Milan(Bergamo) (92,000).
(
Table 9.16)
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 two 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.
3.6
Air punctuality statistics:
3.6.1 These statistics cover both arrivals and
departures. They relate solely to punctuality at the
specified airport. For example, the information which is
used about flights from Edinburgh relates only to the
punctuality of their departure, so the statistics take no
account of any subsequent delays before landing at, say,
London. Similarly, the information which is used about
arrivals at Edinburgh relates only to the time of arrival
(no allowance is made for whether or not the flight
departed on time from the airport of origin).
3.6.2 The calculations cover those flights for which
information about the planned and the actual times of
operation has been matched - for example, cancelled
flights, and flights which are diverted to or from another
airport, are excluded (the numbers of such flights are
included in the figures which are given for "unmatched"
flights).
3.6.3 The percentages "early to 15 minutes late" would
probably be lower, and the average delays would probably be
higher, if these statistics were calculated in the same way
as the rail punctuality statistics (the latter are based on
the time of arrival at the destination, and take account of
cancellations).
3.6.4 "All cargo" and "air taxi" services are
excluded.
3.6.5
Unmatched actual flights are air transport
movements which actually took place at the airport, but for
which no corresponding planned flight was found. There may
be a number of reasons for this, such as:
- the flight was a diversion from another
airport;
- the flight was a short-haul flight more than one
hour before the planned time;
- the flight was planned to take place in the
previous month;
- errors in, or omissions from, the records of
Airport Coordination Ltd (
ACL) or the airport.
3.6.6
Unmatched planned flights are those which were
reported in data supplied by
ACL, but for which no corresponding air
transport movement return has been found. There may be a
number of reasons for this, such as:
- the flight was diverted to another airport;
- the flight was cancelled;
- the planned time was for a short-haul flight more
than one hour after the flight;
- the flight took place in the following month;
- errors in, or omissions from, the records of
ACL or the airport.
3.6.7
Average delays: the averages relate to all flights
- not just to the ones which were delayed. With effect from
January 2000, flights which are early are counted as "zero
delay"; prior to that they were counted as a "negative
delay". As a result, the average delays for 2000 onwards
are not directly comparable with the figures for 1999 and
earlier years. This accounts for the whole of the apparent
increase in the averages for Glasgow for 2000: when the
Civil Aviation Authority (
CAA) recalculated the averages for 1999
on the current basis, it found that they would be two
minutes more than when calculated on the original basis. A
similar recalculation using the data for Edinburgh for 1999
suggested that the change had no effect on its averages,
when these were rounded to the nearest whole minute.
3.6.8
Taxi-ing time: the
CAA changed its assumption for the
taxi-ing time for Edinburgh airport departures from 5
minutes to 10 minutes with effect from the start of 2001.
As a result, the "punctuality" and "average delay" figures
for Edinburgh for 2001 onwards are not on the same basis as
the figures for 2000 and earlier years. However, when the
CAA recalculated the figures for
Edinburgh for 2000 on the current basis, it appeared that
this change did not affect on the averages or the
percentage "early or within 15 minutes", when these were
rounded to the nearest whole number.
3.7
Route Development Fund
3.7.1 The purpose of the Route Development Fund (
RDF) is to invest in developing routes
which secure the greatest economic return for Scotland. The
RDF is available for the development of
new direct routes which improve business links and
encourage inward tourism. While most of the fund is
administered by Scottish Enterprise, part is allocated to
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited and administered
separately, with the involvement of Highlands and Islands
Enterprise and other bodies.
3.7.2 The
RDF concentrates on routes which have
high business and in-bound tourism potential. It may be
used to develop key
UK domestic services as well as European
and intercontinental links. The aim is to support the
development of new services which have a frequency of at
least five return trips per week, which operate all year
round, and which would not go ahead without
RDF investment. Outside Scotland's
central belt airports, where there is a more limited
market, the criteria are more flexible. For example,
international services from the more peripheral airports
can be seasonal with a more limited frequency.
3.7.3 The figures appearing for a particular route for a
given year in
Table 9.16 cover
only passengers on those services on that route
which
were supported by the
RDF in that year. Therefore,
Table 9.16 may
not provide the overall total number of passengers
on that route in that year. For example, there may have
been other services on that route in that year which were
not supported by the
RDF (perhaps because they were already
existing "seasonal" services -
e.g. operating only in the summer). Or, the
RDF may have supported services on that
route for only one financial year, in which case the table
will
not show any passenger numbers for the
next year because there were
no services which were
supported by the
RDF in that later year. As a
result, the table has blank entries for some routes for the
later years.
3.7.4 The figures in
Table 9.16 are for financial
years, unlike the figures in the earlier tables of
passenger numbers which relate to calendar years. The
reason for this difference is that
RDF support is provided for financial
years - and, in some cases, for only one financial year.
Therefore, it is more appropriate to show the number of
passengers on services on a particular route which were
supported by the
RDF in, say, 2003-04 as a single number
for the 2003-04 financial year than to show separate
numbers for 2003 and 2004. Because of this difference, and
because
Table 9.16 covers
only passengers on services which were
supported by the
RDFin that year, users of
Table 9.16 should be
very cautious about drawing any conclusions from
any comparison of its figures with those in the other
tables in this chapter.
4.
Sources
4.1
Tables 9.1 to 9.13 are compiled
from information supplied by the Civil Aviation Authority (
CAA).
4.2
Air punctuality statistics
4.2.1 These statistics are prepared by the
CAA with the co-operation of the airport
operators and Airport Coordination Ltd (
ACL). They are produced for Edinburgh,
Glasgow and some other
UK airports. The first year for which
information is available varies from airport to airport:
for example, figures for Edinburgh are only available from
April 1996, so it is not possible to provide figures for
Edinburgh for 1996 as a whole, or for any earlier
years.
4.2.2 The actual times of flights' wheels on/off the
runway are derived from flight air transport movement
returns made by airports to the
CAA. The planned times, which relate to
arrival/departure from the stand, and include changes made
up to 24 hours beforehand, are supplied by
ACL. The
CAA also uses assumptions about taxi-ing
time - currently these are:
- Edinburgh: arrivals - 5 minutes; departures - 10
minutes;
- Glasgow: arrivals - 5 minutes; departures - 10
minutes.
The
CAA matches the two sets of data and
resolves any obvious mismatches. For example, if an airline
appears to operate a series of flights significantly "off
slot", the
CAA will substitute information from
published timetables, where these are available, in place
of the
ACL slot. The statistics are then
calculated from the information for those flights for which
the data have been matched - so cancelled flights, and
flights which are diverted to or from another airport, are
excluded from the calculations.
4.3
Table 9.14 was compiled by
Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd.
4.4
Table 9.15 was compiled from
information supplied by
BAA Scottish Airports Ltd.
4.5
Table 9.16 was prepared using
figures supplied by the Scottish Executive Aviation Policy
branch, which were based on information which is publicly
available from the Civil Aviation Authority. (In some
cases, the Aviation Policy branch rounded the numbers to,
say, the nearest 100 passengers.)
5.
Further Information
5.1 Further information on
UK civil aviation is available from the
Civil Aviation Authority's regular publications, from Mrs D
McLean of the
CAA Data Unit (tel: 0207 453 6258 or
e-mail
aduoutput@caaerg.org.uk
), and from the
CAA Economic Regulation Group's website:
www.caaerg.co.uk .
For example, the
CAA website has detailed tables of
punctuality statistics, which give figures separately for
each operator on each route, for each month and for each
year as a whole, for Edinburgh, Glasgow and some other
UK airports.
5.2 Further information on Highlands and Islands
Airports Ltd is available from Norman Ross on 01667
462445.
5.3 Further information on
BAA financial figures are available from
Deirdre Fulton of the
BAA (tel: 0141 848 4599).
5.4 Further information about the Route Development Fund
can be obtained from Grace McGuire of the Scottish
Executive Aviation Policy branch (tel: 0131 244 0854)
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