52% outbound UK travel on low-cost airlines: Amadeus
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More than half of outbound air travel from the UK was on a low-cost airline, new figures from Amadeus have suggested.
The travel technology company’s latest number crunch found 52% of ex-UK air travel was a low-cost option, up 4% from the previous year. The European region was the most apparent for users of low-cost airlines followed by North America.
Amadeus’ numbers also showed the Middle East’s growth as an international hub, with Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai holding 15% of traffic between Europe to Asia and South West Pacific. This will be higher by the end of this year following Qantas’ joint venture with Emirates.
The numbers showed the cut-back in services within Europe which found half of routes are operating by three or more airlines compared to 75% in Asia.
There are thought to be 300 ‘super routes’ across the world that make up a fifth of all air travel, with each carrying more than one million passengers a year. The busiest routes were in Asia particularly domestic routes in Japan and China, as well as Rio-Sao Paulo; Melbourne-Sydney and Cape Town-Johannesburg services.
All regions saw a boost in passenger numbers last year with Europe’s up 4% to 680 million.