Leisure passengers flying out of Stansted airport have the lowest annual income compared with other users of major London airports, while Heathrow has the highest, a study has shown. 

The average income among Stansted passengers in 2009 was £44,923, while business passengers flying out of Heathrow had the highest average income at £79,335.

The Civil Aviation Authority compiled the results after questioning 200,000 departing passengers at four London airports as well as Newcastle, Manchester and five Scottish airports.

In the survey it emerged that Gatwick had the fewest number of London’s passengers travelling alone and the highest proportion of groups travelling with more than five members. 

Meanwhile, Heathrow had the largest amount of lonesome fliers in the country’s capital, with 64.7% of solo travellers.

Heathrow also emerged as the favoured airport for tourists taking long-lasting trips of more than four weeks, with 7.6% of these travellers, while Luton airport had the lowest with just 1.5%.

The study revealed that Luton was the least favoured airport among passenger who use public transport, with only 31%, while Stansted emerged as the most popular in this demographic, at 47.3%.

Elderly tourists were also shown to favour flying out of Luton in the results, as it hosted that largest proportion of passengers aged over 74.

Meanwhile, Gatwick said that it carried just over 3.20 million passengers last month – a 2.6% dip on the September 2009 figure.

While numbers to most areas were down, traffic to long-haul markets excluding North America rose 7.1% last month, with the Caribbean and Africa doing particularly well.

Copyright Press Association 2010

  • Share/Bookmark