Mixed use for air transport links

Travellers fail to take advantage of public transport links, says the survey

Hardly any air passengers used public transport to get to some regional airports, a survey from the Civil Aviation Authority shows.

Only 14% of passengers leaving from Liverpool airport used public transport, with the figure for Manchester airport 11%.

The figure at Doncaster-Sheffield was 7% and Humberside just 1%.

In contrast, 45% of Stansted travellers took public transport, with Heathrow at 38%, Gatwick 35% and Luton 30%.

The survey at the eight airports was conducted in 2007 and involved 210,000 departing passengers.

The survey showed Doncaster-Sheffield attracted the largest proportion of leisure passengers at 94%, compared with 89% at Liverpool, 82% at Gatwick, 81% at Stansted and 64% at Heathrow.

Passengers travelling to visit friends and relatives made up 46% of Stansted's total and 43% of each of Luton's and Liverpool's.

At Heathrow, the proportion was 32%, at Manchester and Doncaster-Sheffield 22% , and at Humberside 10%.

Some 34% of passengers using Heathrow were changing planes, compared with 12% at Gatwick, 8% at Stansted, 4% at Luton, 3% at Manchester, 2% at Liverpool and less than 1% at Doncaster Sheffield and Humberside;

Humberside (59%) had the highest proportion of passengers travelling on inclusive tour packages, with Stansted the least (5%).