A report claiming nearly four in ten passengers are using public transport to get to Leeds-Bradford Airport has been described as “confusing”.

The Leeds City Council document said about 37 per cent of travellers got to the airport using public transport during 2010.

But the figure includes people travelling by taxi, private minibus and shuttle bus from car parks. In fact, only 6.4 per cent of passengers got to the terminal directly by public bus.

Councillor Ryk Downes (Lib Dem, Otley & Yeadon) said: “The report can be confusing. The majority of people believe public transport to be by bus or train, but not by taxi or shuttle bus. The airport does have to help fund bus routes, but it’s not ideal when you’ve got an international airport without a rail link.”

A Council spokesman said: “The Department of Transport set us a target of trying to get 40 per cent of passengers to travel to the airport by public transport. We don’t include the car park service bus as public transport though, so we are currently achieving 30.6 per cent.”