How do passengers travel to and from United Kingdom airports?

United Kingdom airports are now used by 170 million passengers annually, treble the number 20 years ago. Many passengers use airports to change aircraft, but the majority of them will need to travel to or from the airport by surface means of transport. The Government would like to see a higher proportion of these journeys being made by public transport. This would help to combat traffic congestion and reduce air pollution. The most comprehensive information about how passengers travel to and from airports is collected by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as part of its programme of large-scale passenger surveys. This article provides a brief overview of some of the main results. Surveys were carried out at eleven major airports in 1999. These airports account for three quarters of all passengers using United Kingdom airports. Taking all eleven airports together, three quarters of passengers travelled to or from the airport by car or taxi, about one sixth used rail (either National Rail or London Underground), and one tenth used bus or coach. However, these overall figures disguise significant differences between airports. In particular a number of the major airports have direct rail links. Therefore at Gatwick and Heathrow over a fifth of passengers arrived or departed by rail. Another factor affecting modal split is the proportion of foreign passengers at that airport. Passengers from abroad will have less access to a private car, or may be coming to the United Kingdom as part of an inclusive tour involving a bus or coach as part of the package. One of the main factors determining how passengers chose to travel to or from airports is speed and convenience, particularly for those using public transport. Passenger surveys have been carried out annually at Heathrow, Gatwick and Mancheter since 1996, and periodically before then. At most airports there has been a fall in the percentage of passengers arriving or departing by private car, but an increase in the taxi or minicab share. However, althought the private car share has fallen, the number of car passengers has increased because of the continuing growth in the total numbers of passengers using the airports. Three new rail services have been introduced in recent years. The Heathrow Express opened in 1998. (A) For the covering abstract see ITRD E108997.