Hen and Stag Parties

The environmental charity Hubbub has released a report on flying by people in the 20-45 age group, based on a survey sample of 2000. It finds that half the flights by men aged 20-45 in 2019 were for stag parties and a third of flights by women were for hen parties. Hubbub is concerned about the carbon emissions from these flights and the options for reduction by selecting a UK destination. For example, swapping Barcelona for Brighton is the equivalent of going vegan for 2.5 months.

An implication of this high proportion of optional leisure flights is to weaken the case for additional runway capacity to accommodate the forecast growth of demand for air travel, in particular the third runway planned at Heathrow. In the absence of increased capacity, growing demand would lead to higher prices in the market for air travel, which would tilt the balance towards UK destinations for leisure trips, to the benefit of the economy of seaside towns and other hospitable destinations. Most air travel is for leisure purposes. There is plenty of airport capacity for business travellers who are willing to pay a premium to command priority over those on leisure trips.