Pre-Christmas getaways drive increase in air traffic

November saw a 3.4% increase in air traffic versus the previous year, with 180,417 flights in UK airspace – just over 6,000 flights a day – as travellers take to the skies for pre-Christmas getaways.

The biggest growth this month was in overflights (flights that travel through UK airspace without arriving at/departing from UK airports), which saw an increase of 16% compared to the previous year. One route that contributed significantly to this growth was Ireland – Italy, up by 19% year-on-year.

According to figures from Eurocontrol, NATS attributable delay, excluding weather, decreased by almost 10% compared to last November, whilst handing 24% of all European traffic. This month, the percentage of flights with no NATS attributable delay was 99.7%.

Kathryn Leahy, Chief Operating Officer, said:

“November has continued to follow the trend of an increase year-on-year in air traffic across the UK. As our skies get busier, approaching the highs of pre-pandemic traffic levels, we continue to work with our European partners and make every effort to minimise disruption and delay. Our priority is always getting passengers to their destinations safely.”