§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 16 June 2004,Official Report, columns 936–37W, on travel costs, if he will provide analogous data for air travel costs between 1974 and 2003.[180019]
§ Mr. McNulty[holding answer 22 June 2004]: The cost of air travel from 1996 to 2003 is shown in index form in the following table. This data is taken from the Consumer Price Index1, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Note that these figures are not adjusted for inflation.
The data between 1996 and 2000 are not comparable with data from 2001 onwards. Between 1996 and 2000, the index only includes the purchase of flights on the day of travel, and is not representative of all air travel.
1Like the Retail Price Index (RPI), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the average change from month to month in the prices of consumer goods and services. However it differs in the particular households it represents, the range of goods and services included, and the way the index is constructed.
Index (1996=100) 1996 100.0 1997 103.3 1998 107.3 1999 109.0 2000 111.5 2001 121.5 2002 120.1 2003 114.0 Source: Consumer Price Index, Office for National Statistics There is no information available prior to 1996 on the overall cost of air travel.