UK’s millionth flight is earliest since the pandemic

The strong return of air traffic post-pandemic is continuing, with the UK’s one millionth flight happening six days earlier than last year. The milestone was reached on 8 June , according to statistics from NATS, the UK’s major provider of air traffic services.  The earliest this milestone has ever been reached was on the last day of May in 2019.

NATS handled 1,176,622 flights in the first half of the year to end-June, an increase of 5.1 per cent on the same period last year.  In June itself, NATS handled a total of 231,519 flights, an increase of 3.5 per cent on June 2023.

Highest year on year growth was in non-transatlantic arrivals and departures, which increased by four per cent.  The busiest routes as we head towards peak summer are those between the UK and Spain, France and Italy.  Domestic UK routes showed least growth.

NATS handled 24 per cent of European traffic in June with just 1.4 per cent of overall European delay attributed to NATS, according to Eurocontrol figures. 97 per cent of UK flights experienced no NATS-attributable delay; the average delay per delayed flight was 9.7 minutes.

Kathryn Leahy, Chief Operations Officer, said: “We had the busiest day of the year so far on 14 June, when we handled more than 8,300 flights, and that was busier than any day last year, so as we head to the summer peak we already know how much the traffic is building.

“In July we have also managed the Farnborough Airshow, the Royal International Air Tattoo and the school holidays, which are already well underway for some. That all adds up to a very busy month.”