The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has published its annual passenger survey for 2025. Around 175,000 passengers were interviewed before departing eight of England’s busiest airports and the results showed that their satisfaction levels remained consistently high.
Departing Passengers
The survey covered Birmingham (BHX), East Midlands International (EMA), London City (LCY), Gatwick (LGW), Heathrow (LHR), Luton (LTN), Manchester (MAN) and Stansted (STN) Airport.
A random sample of UK passengers was asked 30 questions at departure gates. Questions included passengers’ demographic information, travel profiles, transport to the airport, reasons for flying and airport ratings. Responses were then weighted against actual departing passenger numbers – 225 million – to produce final survey scores.
Whilst passenger volumes rose 2% across the eight airports in 2024, passenger satisfaction remained consistent and only increased 0.03% over the same period (from 8.36 out of a possible 10 in 2024 to 8.39% in 2025). This figure is based on how likely respondents were to recommend the airport to a friend or colleague.
Business and leisure travel patterns also remained stable: 13% of passengers travelled for business reasons and 87% for leisure, identical to the 2024 figures. By comparison, pre-pandemic data from 2019 showed 19% travelling for business and 81% for leisure. Business travellers were most commonly aged between 35-54, while leisure travellers spanned a much wider age range.
Public transport use up
The use of private modes of transport – such as cars and taxis – continued to decline. In 2019, 67% of passengers travelled to airports by car; this fell to 63% in 2024, and 62% in 2025. This means that 38% of travellers opted to use public transport last year, including trains, the Underground, Metro systems and buses – up 5% from 2019.
CAA Director of Consumers, Markets and Communications, Tim Johnson, said:
“As the aviation industry continues to grow, it is encouraging to see that the level of passenger satisfaction with airports remains high. As the way passengers travel to airports changes, it remains vital that all aspects of the journey – from doorstep to destination and back – are reliable, accessible and efficient.”
London City Airport (LCY) had the highest proportion of passengers arriving at terminals via public transport, 66% in 2025, followed by Stansted (STN) at 48%. At East Midlands Airport (EMA), only 10% of passengers used public transport to arrive last year.
How does your experience compare with this year’s findings, and has your choice of transport to the airport changed? Let us know in the comments below.
