We Surveyed Our Audience to Reveal Your Airport Habits
Airports, airports, airports. It feels like you can’t turn a corner lately without hearing something about them. It’s all, ‘third runway’ this and ‘major investment’ that.
But love them or hate them, many of us use them. Indeed, we’re using them more often, according to the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), whose research says that out of those who fly each year, 70% are likely to take multiple trips, with 18-35 year olds most likely to fly more often.
And here in the North, we have a fair amount of choice. Manchester and Leeds Bradford Airports are among the most established, and many of us will be familiar with them as we jet off to warmer climes.
But smaller hubs have opened up new facilities and new routes. Teesside has seen a recent renaissance, with a range of new destinations on offer. Humberside is providing a number of services, both domestic and international, for those in East Yorkshire and the wider Humber region. The airport formerly known as Doncaster Sheffield (now to be known as South Yorkshire Airport City) was earmarked just last month for reopening in 2026, with government backing.
And in the North West, the likes of Liverpool John Lennon Airport have been providing passengers with a range of destinations domestically, as well as to Europe, North Africa and even the Middle East. Blackpool Airport has also got in on the act, with ambitious plans that aim to turn it into a bustling hub once again.
But with all this choice on offer, what do we, the travelling public, prioritise from our airport experience? Well wonder no more, as we’ve asked the key questions to over 1,500 readers, giving us the inside track on how, when and why travellers make their choices.
Getting to and from the airport
Staying in control of flight times was seen as a priority for those we surveyed, with 32.6% saying they used a ‘personal car / on-site parking’ for their trip to the airport. A further 23.5% chose to use a ‘taxi’ while ‘public transport’ (train, bus) lagged behind with only 16.5% of respondents using these alternatives.
A big part of this will be people wanting to avoid delays, associated stress-levels, and keeping their destiny in their own hands, but it must be recognised that not every airport is a joy to get to by public transport. The bigger airports seem to do okay, but there does seem to be appetite for improved connections.
Why choose one airport over another?
There were two main factors people identified as to which airport they choose to fly from. Having ‘flights to where I want to go’ came out on top at 58.3%, closely followed by ‘closest one to my home’ at 56.2%. ‘Ease to get to’ and ‘the cheapest’ were also popular choices, each scoring 33.3%.
Interestingly, the survey revealed that ‘airport facilities and services’ (6.3%) and travelling with a ‘specific airline’ (6.2%) were less popular.
How frequently people travel
Our research showed that just under half of those surveyed, 47.9%, had travelled ‘one or two times’ by plane in the past year. However, a significant proportion had travelled more often, with 23.2% traveling ‘between three and five’ times over the same period. A few lucky devils – 19 to be precise – claimed to have travelled ‘more than 10 times’ by air in the past year.
Only 22.5% of those surveyed had not been on a plane in the past year, backing up the CAA’s findings on travel habits.
What to do at the airport
In terms of using facilities at the airport, our survey revealed a clear winner, with over a third (34.7%) opting for a pre-flight pint (or alternative alcoholic beverage), while 29.4% preferred to just chill in the terminal. 18.9% said they enjoyed a ‘pre-flight meal’.
These choices were reflected in what people spent while in the airport. Most (42%) people said they spent ‘between £0 and £20’ at the airport, with nearly as many (39.4%) saying they spent ‘between £21 and £50’. A handful of big spenders (2.8%) said they’d expect to spend over £100.
Summary of findings
So what does all this mean for the future of airports? Well clearly, airport owners are investing millions in what their customers see and do when travelling through. You just have to look at the stunning redevelopment of Terminal 2 at Manchester, and the much-anticipated terminal expansion due to open at Leeds Bradford this summer, bringing a range of benefits for travellers, including new lounges and retail spaces.
While customers decide to travel by air more often, potentially on shorter-haul journeys, the time spent at airports will become increasingly important. Having the right atmosphere and mix of shops will be vital. These factors could be the defining reason, along with destinations served, as to why the public choose to fly from one airport over another.
The green agenda will also be important, as more airports set out their environmental credentials in a sector that has obvious challenges on this front. Customers will want to see airports ‘doing their bit’ to reduce their carbon footprint, which will include environmentally friendly buildings and improved public transport.
While there was a strong appetite for direct flights to destinations, airports can (and should) do more to promote connecting flights. Ease of travel is clearly important, so a quick transfer in a nearby city, for example Amsterdam, Paris or Dublin, can be a great way of shrinking your overall journey time.
As a final thought, one interesting stat revealed by our survey was that we are a nation of nervous nellies, with the majority (56.7%) saying they usually arrived at the airport ‘more than two hours’ before boarding. With all that downtime at departures, the airport experience can only become a more important theme for customers as time goes on.
Written for You Platforms, by Julian Pearce, Founder of Yasper Agency.
@yasper_agency @jules_pearce
Image credits: Clevershot Limited
