‘Staggering’ 20-year fall in domestic UK flights – as another form of transport benefits
https://news.sky.com/story/staggering-20-year-fall-in-domestic-uk-flights-as-another-form-of-transport-benefits-13469808?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter
Posted by StGuthlac2025
21 Comments
lol maybe people no longer have a reason to travel the country anymore.
Cross country meetings can be remote/ video.
Holidays are better and cheaper abroad.
> So what’s driving the trend?
>
> A combination of better and more frequent train services, higher Air Passenger Duty tax, concern about the environmental impact of flying, and changing work patterns – especially since the pandemic – have all played a part.
I’d suggest that “changing work patterns” has played a much more significant part in this change than the article gives credit to, and to domestic travel overall.
Personally, I didn’t travel by domestic UK flights pre-pandemic, but on a similar level my in-person work meetings which required travel have dropped from maybe 5-10 per month on average to less than 1 per year on average.
The transport that benefits is rail BTW. Weird how Sky editors can’t bring themselves to put it in the headline.
UK domestic flights don’t make that much sense if you have a car. Even the south of England to Scotland is only 7 or 8 hours? Plus then you don’t have to rent a car.
Although the only route I can see being useful is the south of England to Scotland though, and that’s more if you need to get there slightly faster or don’t have/need a car. Otherwise what’s the point. It’s just too short a route.
And I get there is a big train network, but the trains are so overpriced (and crowded), and don’t run half the time. So it is actually cheaper to fly many times. I flew Manchester to London via Dublin as it was cheaper than direct trains…
How to keep bananas fresh for longer, you will cut your energy bills by this one trick, you won’t need your heating in your bedroom this winter by doing this one thing. These and other headlines
I remember back in the late 80s and early 90s flying regularly between Manchester and Ipswich with Suckling Airways and Gatwick to Manchester with BA.
Why would I fly to see friends in the uk when we can all fly to Spain or similar for cheaper
Hell i could probably pay for their ticket and it would still be cheaper than trying to do London to Scotland
Why fly when you can pay £200-300 for a family trip from Manchester to London on a train?
Train prices are insane.
The only internal flights I’ve ever taken are between England and Northern Ireland. If I can reasonably get to say the Scottish central belt by land, then I’m for sure gonna avoid all the airport bullshit and pollution.
The budget airlines might have a lower headline price than the train, but by the time you pay for bags, transport to the airport on each side and so on, you’re probably not saving any significant money.
Imagine if they properly subsidised rail tickets and invested properly.
Many air journeys take just as long as their road equivalents. Air usually isn’t really worth it in the UK for anything less than 200 miles. The trip itself may take less time but you have to factor in getting to the airport, going through checks at the airport and getting from the destination airport to the destination address. Then, when you get to the destination address, you will require taxis or public transport to travel anywhere else.
Spent an hour circling London waiting for a landing slot last year and as we flew over Brighton for the third time I’m thinking damn it I should have taken the train from Scotland.. meanwhile in Japan they’ve been running bullet trains since 1964… why not the U.K.?
I prefer train over flying because to get to the airport the recommended 2 hours early, I have to leave 3 hours before the flight, if I’m driving I have to pay extortionate prices for parking, and then I have to sort transport from an airport into whatever ‘city’ airport I’m flying to on the other side.
With the train, I can rock up at the station knowing the train will leave on time most of the time, I’m not going to have any security queues to worry about (yet..), and can turn up in a city centre ready to go.
Cambridge -> Edinburgh is 5 hours door-to-door by train and ,although it’s a 1-2 hour flight, the whole trip if I’m flying still takes about the same. Most of the time on the train journey is downtime to read, or work on my laptop, on the plane there’s not really time for that.
You’d think the railways would be booming because of it
Except if you live in Northern Ireland and I presume parts of Scotland where rail isn’t ever going to be an option.
Short plane flights are a massive hassle. I used to have to fly to NI regularly which may as well be an internal flight. By the time you driven to the airport, parked, got a bus to the terminal, checked in, queued at security, queued at the gate, waited to take off, had to listen to nervous fliers having meltdowns (especially when its snowing!l waited to get off, and do it all again on the way back- you’ve saved little if any time. I’d sooner just take the train or have a nice long relaxing drive.
It’s cheaper and more convenient for me to fly from Newcastle to London rather than get the train from Penrith. I stuck that I can’t fly easily from Carlisle which would be incredible
Good. Air travel for some routes is unavoidable (London to Belfast, UK to USA, or Scotland to Paris for examples) without incurring stupidly long delays. Yes you can technically sail to New York, but it’ll take you a week. We’re a reasonably small country so Manchester-Heathrow should barely be entertained as a thought.
Could we be as progressive as other countries and progressively tax domestic flights(particularly private jets) where a suitable rail route already exists
This is fantastic news for emissions. Flying is a climate crime.
We’re not that big of a country. Flights aren’t much quicker when you look at logistics of actually getting to the airports and checking in
Is this a bad thing? People are travelling less and polluting less.