Air Traffic Control punctuality stays high as air traffic grows

Almost 98 per cent of UK flights operated punctually in April, according to figures from UK air traffic controller NATS.  Average delay was ten minutes for the 2.2 per cent of flights which did experience an ATC delay.

April was also the busiest month so far this year, with NATS safely handling 210, 505 flights, an increase of 0.2 per cent on the same month a year ago.  According to Eurocontrol, this represented 24 per cent of Europe’s traffic but NATS was accountable for only 4.8 per cent of Europe’s overall delay. 

The UK markets seeing most growth were Spain, Italy and Portugal.  Non-transatlantic overflights decreased by 5.7 per cent, driven by drops in popular markets such as those between Ireland and France and Spain. 

Kathryn Leahy, Chief Operations Officer, said: “We continue to do all we can to ensure resilient operations as air traffic ramps up towards the summer, and we’re pleased that our punctuality is right up with the best in Europe. There are still many challenges across Europe with the continuing situation in the Middle East and continued closure of Ukraine’s airspace”