Pandemic saw airport numbers plunge 93%
PASSENGER numbers at Cardiff Airport last year were 93% below pre-pandemic levels, new figures have shown.
Analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data by the PA news agency found just 64.4 million passengers arrived or departed on flights at UK airports in 2021.
That is compared with 296.9 million in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic led to a huge reduction in demand for air travel.
Trade body the Airport Operators Association (AOA) said the figures highlight how the UK’s aviation sector “suffered more than European rivals last year” due to tougher travel restrictions.
Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, recorded its lowest annual number of passengers for nearly 50 years in 2021, at just 19.4 million.
This was a decline of 76% from the 2019 total of 80.9 million.
Cardiff had one of the biggest decreases, only behind Southend which was down 95%, and followed by Gatwick which was down 87% and London City, which
was down 86%.
Passenger numbers across all UK airports last year fell by 13% from 2020.
That bucked the trend for major airports in the rest of Europe, such as Frankfurt (up 32%), Amsterdam’s Schiphol (up 22%) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (up 18%).
Earlier this month, Cardiff Airport announced the launch of its first low-cost airline base for two decades as Wizz Air UK arrived and chief executive Spencer Birns said at the time he was confident passenger numbers could recover to 50% of pre-Covid by year end.
The airport, which is whollyowned by the Welsh Government but operated by an at-arm’s-length commercial company, saw its last base from a low-cost carrier launched back in 2002 with Bmibaby, before its demise in 2011.
AOA chief executive Karen Dee said: “The CAA’s figures show just how badly UK airports were affected by the pandemic, much more so than our European competitors.
“The UK’s restrictions were more onerous and lasted for longer than those in Europe, despite our much more rapid vaccine rollout.”
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of trade association Airlines UK, said: “This summer should be a bumper one and for many routes we’re seeing demand above where we were in 2019.
“But we can’t lose sight of the fact the sector has been through its worst ever crisis and it will take several years to deal with the debt airlines had to take on to make it through the pandemic with no passengers.”
He called on the UK Government to “focus ruthlessly” on where it can “really make a difference”, such as supporting the development of sustainable aviation fuels and modernising the UK’s airspace.