Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics confirm the disruption to business travel patterns from the UK during the eruption of the Icelandic volcano in April.
Figures for the second quarter of 2010 show that the number of visits abroad by UK business travellers fell only slightly year on year in April, May and June, but that those undertaken by air dropped sharply.
A total of 1.7 million business travellers flew or took a sea crossing or Channel Tunnel train in the second quarter of the year. This compares year on year to the 1.88 million business trips taken in the same period in 2009 and is almost identical to that of the 1.69 million trips made in the first quarter of 2010.
However, the figures illustrate the impact on airlines during the period, which saw the closure of part of UK and European air space for around a week in April.
Because of this, a total of 1.26 million flights were taken for business travel purposes in the quarter, far fewer than the 1.54 million taken a year earlier.
ONS surveys 70,000 people each quarter at airports and Eurostar stations. It found that business travel to Europe had increased year on year from 1.37 million to 1.49 million during the period. Travel to North America also rose, from 147,000 to 151,000.