UK CAA publishes comprehensive reports on VFR and transit air passenger traffic

In March 2009 the Economic Regulation Group of the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) published a comprehensive 103-page report (1.03MB .pdf) on air passengers visiting friends or relatives (VFR).

Of particular interest to Australasian readers is Table 4.3 on page 75. The report comments:

"4.48 Compared with Table 4.2, the emigrant destinations are far less dispersed than the immigrant origins, with over 27% of UK emigrants in either Australia or New Zealand, and a further 23% in North America. 80% of the total emigrant population is estimated to reside in the top ten named countries. This compares to less than one half of the immigrant population coming from the top ten countries in Table 4.2.

"4.49 It should be noted that the extreme long haul nature of trips between the UK and Australasia means that frequent trips are less likely, despite its appeal as a holiday destination – even if fares were to fall, the journey time is still very significant. This, in part, may account for the higher VFR percentages on these routes – whilst VFR passengers may be tied to the destination and make repeated or annual return trips, holiday passengers may be less likely to make repeated trips of such length."

In November 2008 the UK CAA produced a 30-page report on connecting passengers at UK airports.

Other reports produced by the UK CAA that are of interest include one from January 2008 on recent trends in growth in UK air passenger demand and one from July 2007 on long-haul traffic titled Connecting Continents (3.8MB .pdf).