Aviation news....

This from the Civil Aviation Authority...

CAA STATISTICS show last year’s fall in passenger numbers was biggest since the Second World War

• UK airports handled 17 million (7.3 per cent) fewer passengers in 2009 than in 2008, the largest annual decline for sixty-five years.
• It is the first time numbers have fallen consecutively for two years, reducing passenger numbers to levels not seen since 2004.
• Traffic declined the most in the first quarter of 2009, with the rate of decline easing as the year progressed.

UK airports handled 218 million passengers during the 2009 calendar year according to figures published today by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), a fall of 7.3 percent (17 million) on 2008, the biggest decline in passenger numbers at UK airports since records began.

Yet another nail in the coffin for Heathrow's third runway?