The number of business passengers using Heathrow, the world’s busiest international airport, fell by 5 per cent last year, according to the annual survey of passengers by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The numbers dropped by 1.2 million to 22.8 million, just over a third of the total number of all passengers.

The fall has contributed to a severe decline in revenues for airlines operating out of Heathrow. British Airways, Heathrow’s largest user, lost £401 million last year as a result of declining premium passenger numbers, which fell by an average of about 15 per cent.

The number of leisure passengers using the airport rose by more than one million to 44 million as airlines cut fares to keep their aircraft full.

The CAA’s survey of 200,000 passengers, published today, also discovered that the economic downturn had encouraged people to cut the length of their holidays. At Gatwick and Stansted, which are used primarily for leisure trips, the average length of a holiday was reduced by one day. It fell to an average holiday of nine days for those using Gatwick and seven at Stansted. Harry Bush, the CAA’s director of economic regulation, said: “The recession is seeing the most prolonged downturn in passenger traffic since the War.”

The CAA’s survey also showed that at both Luton and Stansted, primarily used by low-cost carriers such as easyJet and Ryanair, there had been a 1 per cent rise in business passengers, suggesting that businessmen had traded down from flights with full-service airlines to budget carriers.

Doug McVitie, managing director of Arran Aerospace, an aviation consultancy, said: “A drop of 10,000 high-spending business passengers over a year would be a worrying indicator, but a fall-off of 1.2 million is horrendous. That is more than 3,200 business passengers a day and this will affect everyone from taxi drivers to duty-free sales.

The survey also found that the average household income of passengers had fallen. For leisure travellers using Stansted it dropped by more than £4,000 to £41,259. At Heathrow, the average businessman’s salary was down £4,700 to £78,490.

—The Competition Appeal Tribunal will begin hearing evidence today as BAA challenges a Competition Commission ruling to dispose of Gatwick, Stansted and one of either Glasgow or Edinburgh airports. The hearing is expected to last three days, with a judgment towards the end of the year.

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