OCR 2880 (ACE) - regional airports suffer from the downturn

A highly topical news piece from the BBC today which should be very useful for students preparing for the OCR A2 Unit 2880 exam on ACE.

Data from the Airport Operators Association shows that demand for passenger and other services at the UK’s regional airports is experiencing a sharp downturn.

Here is the BBC article

It seems there is a dispute about who or what is to blame for the downturn.

The airport operators blame low-cost airlines for squeezing costs (isn’t that why passengers like them??). The low-cost airlines blame the airports for adding extra charges which have to be absorbed by either passengers or the airlines.

All highly relevant to OCR 2880. Remember that ACE’s passenger volumes are dominated by low-cost carriers (we know this because of the absence of belly-hold volumes). The competitiveness of the airport is an important issue when an airline determines where it flies to and from.
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