January air traffic soars into 2026 

January’s UK air traffic increased by 1,725 flights in 2026 versus the previous year, equivalent to a 1 per cent uptick in flights flying in UK airspace.

The month saw NATS safely handle 168,898 flights, compared to the 167,173 flights from January 2025 – an average of 5,448 flights per day. 

Non-Transatlantic Overflights (flights that enter UK airspace but do not stop at UK airports) was the sector with the biggest growth, up by 17 per cent. The routes with the biggest growth within the Non-Transatlantic Overflights sector were Ireland to Poland, Ireland to Italy and Canary Islands to Norway. Domestic flights saw a decline of almost -7 per cent as travellers looked to journey abroad.  

NATS handled 23% of all European traffic and contributed less than 1 per cent of European delay, excluding weather. The percentage of flights with no NATS attributable delay equated to 99.7 per cent. 

Steve Fox, Director of Operations said: “The data for the first month of 2026 is indicating a busy year ahead for UK skies with flight numbers reaching those of 2019 highs. January is renowned for its unpredictable weather, and we saw storms, ice and snow, which disrupted some flights. Despite this, our punctuality performance was strong, which we’ll continue working hard to reinforce this over the coming months.”