Lack of direct flights to ‘growth cities’ hurting British economy

More than half of UK business travellers are flying on in-direct routes to the world’s “growth cities” because of a lack of airport capacity in Britain.

Travel booking data obtained by the GTMC shows that 15 of the 22 “future growth cities” such as Bogota, Jakarta and Manila are mainly reached by travellers via an international airport outside of the UK.

The GTMC said this means the country’s economic growth potential is being "thwarted" by a lack of airport capacity to deliver direct connections to the cities where there are the most business opportunities.

“There are simply not enough direct flights to the cities where UK companies need to do business,” said GTMC CEO Paul Wait.

“It is essential for the health of the British economy to tap directly into the opportunities that are available particularly in the Far East and South America. Connectivity is key to ensure that British companies have a level playing field when trying to compete beyond our borders,” he added.

The GTMC analysed over 10,000 flight bookings for travellers flying on business made by member Travel Management Companies (TMCs) in the first half of 2015 to 22 cities around the world.

Wait, presented the findings at a fringe event taking place as part of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.

The data shows that for cities such as Jakarta, Lima, Manila, Panama City and Taipei there is a “huge demand for business travel not being met”.

Thousands of business trips are being made to these destinations from the UK but they are being made mostly via European or Middle Eastern hub airports (such as Dubai) which, in the long term is damaging for ‘UK Plc’, the GTMC said.

According to Oxford Economics 2015 report into the worlds’ fastest growing cities, Jakarta is predicted to grow by 6.1 per cent in the coming years. In the first half of 2015 only 5 per cent of business travel trips to Jakarta were on direct chartered flights, leaving 95 per cent of business travellers from the UK wanting to work in Jakarta without a choice but to travel indirectly.

Table below shows the percentage of direct and in-direct flights made to each destination between January and June 2015.