Euro Crisis Takes Its Toll on Air Travel and Transport

The Euro zone has been affected by powerful economic struggles and the crisis is taking its toll on how many people travel by air and the amount of merchandise transported by air carriers. British airports operator BAA stated fewer people are traveling by air between the UK and other nations when the crisis is more powerful, such as Greece or Spain, while the cargo moved between them is on a downward trend.

On Heathrow alone, Europe’s busiest airport, passenger numbers from the UK to Greece have decreased by 11.3% in May, the same trend affecting travelers to and from Italy – 9.2% less. The same downward numbers have been posted for Portugal as well, down 2.5% compared to 2011.

“The impact of the euro zone crisis is still being felt with sharp falls in passenger numbers to the worst affected countries and reduced cargo traffic,” said BAA chief executive Colin Matthews.

The impact on air travel and transport is a natural one, considering the economic crisis affecting the Euro zone. Spain has just become the fourth country to request assistance in dealing with the crisis, after Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

BAA also pointed out that cargo traffic, one of the most reliable indicators of economic stability, is also down by 2.4% in all the airports they operate.

BAA is not the first player in the air travel business to point out the extent of the crisis and its impact on their business. IAG has also recently announced performance drops due to the economic state of Spain. Thomas Cook has also revealed summer bookings to Greece are lower than a year before.