 Air transport in the United Kingdom is a growth industry . In the period 1981 to 2006 the number of terminal passengers increased by 400 per cent and air transport movements by 250 per cent . Although the transport of freight declined slightly year on year between 2004 and 2006 , in the decade since 1996 air freight has increased by 31 per cent . During the period in which government policy was being formulated the number of passengers exceeded 200 million , and in 2006 the industry handled over 236 million passengers ( up 3 per cent from the previous year ) , with nearly 2 @.@ 4 million air transport movements ( up 1 @.@ 8 per cent ) . 
