HL Deb 22 January 1980 vol 404 cc429-30WA
The EARL of SELKIRK

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will state (a) the current number of passengers using each of the major international airports in the United Kingdom, and (b) the estimated maximum capacity at the present time.

Lord TREFGARNE

The figures for United Kingdom airports handling more than half a million international passengers in 1978 are as follows:

Terminal Passengers* 1978 Estimated Passenger Capacity*
Heathrow … 26,490,960 30 million
Gatwick … 7,759,059 16 million
Manchester … 3,408,206 6 million
Glasgow … 2,153,322 3 million
Luton … 2,058,085 3 million
Birmingham … 1,305,210 1.75 million
*Numbers of terminal passengers are drawn from the CAA Annual Statistics 1978. The

capacity figures are expressed in terms of million passengers per annum and are approximate. There are no officially defined estimates of capacity available.