Flights between UK airports increase
Domestic flights between UK airports have increased because of popular demand, according to an air transport specialist.Peter Morris, chief economist at Ascend, said flying between Newcastle Airport and Bristol is more convenient than "arduous rail journeys".
"The advantages of low cost carriers are that there are more domestic options on the market," he added.
His comments came as Eastern Airways increased its domestic flights by adding services from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to Aberdeen and Southampton.
Air Southwest has also announced that its winter schedule will include six flights per day from Gatwick and London City Airport to Plymouth and Newquay.
Mr Morris said the low value of the pound meant that many people were travelling within the UK rather than facing rising costs in the eurozone.
Environmentalists are worried about the effect that air travel is having on the environment, but British Airways has pledged to halve its CO2 emissions by 2050.
This will reduce its carbon output to eight million tonnes from the 16 million in 2005.
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Jeremy Birch said on 21/05/2009 08:12:45
Not quite aure where Mr Morris gets his figures. Domestic flights were down 22% in March versus the year before, slightly worse than international flights, and for the whole of 2008 they were down 4.4% versus a drop of 1% for international flights.
Regionally this may vary, but at Bristol the domestic flights were shrinking for the whole of 2008 and got worse in September when the international flights started to take a dive due to the exchange rate as well as tightening personal budgets.
Perhaps being chief economist of a company that depends on the global air transport industry distorts his view a bit?