UK CAA - General Thread

[Seasider]

April 2016

The full stats for this month have now been published by the CAA, having published the three provisional tables for the month a few weeks ago and a couple of months late. They can be seen at

http://www.caa.co.uk/Data-and-analy...atasets/UK-Airport-data/Airport-data-2016-04/

We are still waiting for May and June's provisional figures to be published, both well overdue.

I think that we may find the provision figures announcement will be dropped, I hope not.

 

[IanFarquharson]

May figures wont be out till w/c 22 August !

I expect these are the final ones not the provisional ?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I think that we may find the provision figures announcement will be dropped, I hope not.

I agree.

For those not familiar with the CAA stats, they publish three provisional tables: one is a 'league table' of all UK airports showing air transport movements for the month in question as well as for the year with percentage plus or minus compared with the same period the previous year; the number of passenger carried in that month to each airport with percentage plus or minus compared with that month the previous year; the rolling 12-month passenger total with percentage plus or minus compared with the situation 12 months beforehand.

The other provisional tables are international route analysis and domestic route analysis for every destination served from each UK airport, including a percentage rise or fall in numbers compared with that month a year ago. These two tables are put into the final list (and there are usually few significant changes from the provisional tables) together with many more tables never first shown as provisional tables.

However, the 'league table' is not put into the final list of tables and disappears once the final list is published. In order the obtain all the information set out in the 'league table' after it's been removed it is necessary to consult a number of final tables and also to do some maths calculations. That would also be the case if the provisional list was abandoned by the CAA.

Until this year the provisional tables were published half way through the month following that to which they relate, eg September's provisional figures would be published half way through October. The final tables would be published around 4-6 six weeks after that. This year the provisional tables have been a couple of months late and we have only reached April's tables which have been converted into the final list in the past few days.

May figures wont be out till w/c 22 August !

I expect these are the final ones not the provisional ?

I hope not. April's provisional stats were very late. However, there was only one issue of the 'league table' and not all airports were included.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

May figures now not due until 1 September!! It was much quicker when people used pieces of slate and boards.

http://www.caa.co.uk/Data-and-analy...s/UK-Airline-data/Airline-data-release-notes/

 

[Aviador]

This is so frustrating especially as we've sometimes used the figures as a sign of economic health. The CAA really need to pull their finger out and get this sorted.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

June 2016 tables are now out but described as provisional even though they are actually many of the tables usually only published as final tables.

The May 2016 tables are still only shown as provisional tables, ie the usual three.

It gets much worse. There is a note saying that many airports (identified) are still outstanding and are therefore excluded.

Because June doesn't have the usual three provisional tables there is no 'league table' of airports.

Table 1 (size of UK airports in terms of passenger numbers) is excluded until publication of finalised data.

Table 2 (output of airports giving breakdown of charter, scheduled,terminal pax, transit pax and freight) is discontinued.

Table 2 (diversions) is discontinued.

Table 11 (international passengers to/from UK country by country) is discontinued.

Table 12.1 (international passengers route analysis) contains a number of airports marked as unknown which are being investigated and will be corrected in the final publication (whenever that is - my italics).

So in summary, the new system is next to useless and most of the useful information will no longer be published. Some people are being paid well to oversee this fiasco.

 

[Aviador]

Some people are being paid well to oversee this fiasco

And a fiasco it is. Changing the layout of the "webshite" is one thing but seemingly misplacing most of the data to go on it is beyond belief. They would be just as well going back to the old website and doing things the old way.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The CAA website is still completely unreliable.

The latest airport stats (for December 2016) were put online on 27 January but did not include all UK airports. There has been a note on the CAA site since then saying the next refresh of stats would be on 10 February. It's now 15th and still no refresh.

I hope they are more efficient when it comes to overseeing safety regulations.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The CAA website is now complete for December and thus the calendar year of 2016.

The next refresh is scheduled for 24 February although they don't always meet the next refresh date. Nevertheless, the first group of January 2017 airports should be in the next refresh which means the CAA is gradually catching up on its work after 12 months of at times chaotic performance.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

We are now nearly half way through November and the CAA is yet to publish airport and other stats for September.

It's creeping back to the bad old days that were a feature after it reorganised its website (which might have been coincidental) several years ago.

Prior to that stats were always published half way through the month following the one in question, eg May's stats were published around 15 June. In those days there weren't many airports left off the first batch either, unlike nowadays.

 

[Scottie Dog]

According to an email, response to a request I sent the other day, the September data "should be on the website in the next couple of days, perhaps by close of business tomorrow, Thursday 14th November".

I hope that's true.

 

[Seasider]

So do I!! If it was a commercial business it wouldn't last long if it kept missing deadlines. Oh, I forgot, they don't t set themselves deadlines.

 

[Scottie Dog]

I was just looking through the forums to try to decide where would be best to place monthly cargo figures and came across this old thread that I had previously made comment on!

Anyway, as TLY and I have been exchanging opinions on the current data provided by the CAA I thought I would add a couple of extra thoughts/comments.

Firstly I must say that I find the CAA to be very approachable when I find the need to ask a question and I normally, although not always, get a response within just a few days - this might be because I now have an individuals email address rather than the generic one.

I must admit that on occasion I can be rather lazy and, rather than looking for the answer to a question, I ask it. One topic that TLY and I had been discussing as the fact that we found, on the Bristol thread, that there are 3 different totals of rolling annual passengers as shown below:

Table 9 - 2,735,058
By combining the totals for the same period in tables 12.1 and 12.2 - 2,731,895
Then there is the figure that you quote of 2,733,097 and for which I'm not certain as to which data sheet you have used.

I raised this issue with the CAA and they directed me to the following notes:

The source and rules associated with tables 12.1 and 12.2 are a little different from the other tables in the Airport suite of tables. There will be some differences and the main reasons follow:

1. Due to confidentiality constraints it is not possible to publish passenger figures in routes tables 12.1 and 12.2 until we have completed a consultation/consent period with carriers operating to/from UK reporting airports. So data relating to any new carriers using UK airports is excluded until this process is completed. Figures are however, included in the other tables
2. More noticeable on the domestic routes table 12.2 where passengers are counted once only on other tables, like table 9 passengers are recorded twice so both by the departure and arrival airport, thus table 9 records Airport activity
3. Also, more noticeable on domestic routes table 12.2, there are a few small airfields like St Mary’s (Isles of Scilly) for whom we do not collect data by route, these are therefore, excluded from the routes tables.

"To assist you I have also copied in below notes associated with table 12.2 which you may find helpful when using the data.

Notes (1) These figures are based on origin and destination of passengers as reported to UK airport authorities by UK and foreign airlines. Operators are required to report in respect of each service operated, the point of uplift and discharge of each passenger. The figures may not reflect a passenger's entire air journey: the point at which a passenger disembarks from a particular service may not represent his ultimate destination.

(2) Although operators are asked to report all passenger journeys, in some cases the actual point of uplift or discharge is not recorded. In such cases all passengers are allocated to the end point of the service, ie the aircraft's origin or ultimate destination. The figures in this table include all passengers carried on scheduled and chartered services excluding those carried on aircraft chartered by Government Departments.

(3) To avoid duplication passenger numbers are taken from one reporting airport in the pair. In the case of services at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, Southend and London City, the London airport's reports are always used. In the case of routes not involving a London airport the passengers are reported by the lower alphabetical airport. Exceptionally where one report of the pair is not a full reporting airport, traffic is derived from the other airport's information, irrespective of alphabetical order.

(4) For the purposes of this table, change of gauge passengers are treated as terminal and included.

(5) Excludes passengers at Barrow, Battersea Heliport, Carlisle, Isles of Scilly (St. Mary's), Penzance, Plymouth, Shoreham, and Tresco.

(6) In order to preserve market analysis all identifiable diversions are reallocated to the point of intended operation.

(7) Charter operations performed on an aircraft of less than 25 seats are not included.

(8) Excludes passengers on airlines that we do not have consent to publish.

Hopefully that might give a insight into why the numbers can vary, although why they do it like this I don't understand!!

 

[Jerry]

That does explain a few things! Thanks!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

A couple of other points to mention re Scottie's excellent research.

6) In order to preserve market analysis all identifiable diversions are reallocated to the point of intended operation.

In fact, many perhaps most airports seem to claim diverted passengers as their own. For example, if a flight from A to B is diverted to C, C will invariably show the passengers as its own as will the intended arrival airport B because the passengers will eventually arrive there either by road or by the flight hopping over from C to B with the passengers later.

The other point concerns tables 12.2 Domestic Air Pax Traffic Route Analysis and 12.3 Domestic Air Pax Traffic Route Analysis by Each Reporting Airport

Table 12.2 only shows one set of figures for each domestic route whilst 12.3 shows them from both ends. They always take the London end figures for the London airport routes and for the remainder of the country (ie all non-London routes) they take the figures of the first airport alphabetically.

Why the CAA even bothers to show both 12.2 and 12.3 because the figures for each route should agree whichever 'end' shows them. But they don't - often.

At the moment because of low totals the discrepancies are much less for most of 2020 often by just one or two passengers, but a look at 2019's corresponding month - in the examples below November - shows wider variations with some examples taken at random and shown below.

On the route between BRS and BFS, the total for November 2020 is 3,429 under the BFS airport figures but 3,430 under the BRS figures. November 2019 figures are respectively 23,885 and 23,891

MAN-LHR from the MAN end is 9,569 and from the LHR end 9,711 with November 2019 respectively 50,604 and 50,547

GLA-LGW is 3,449 from the GLA end and 3,451 from the LGW end with November 2019 respectively 52,982 and 52,880.

I've noticed these discrepancies for a number of years and they are usually quite widespread each month.

Given some other obvious mistakes down the years that have never been corrected means that as far as I'm concerned the CAA stats, whilst broadly accurate, can never be taken as completely so.

As far as BRS is concerned for some reason it doesn't count certain types of passenger in its own figures and carries a note to this effect on the stats page of its website - under 2s are the only ones that the airport ever mentions but by implication there are other types as well. This means that, depending on season, the monthly BRS passenger figures can be anywhere between 5,000 and 12,000 fewer than the CAA's - 90,000-100,000 fewer annually.

This has been happening for many years but why it is done I have no idea. Most airports like to boast as many passengers as they can but BRS always quotes its own lower figures in press releases.