June figures confirm aviation downturn has lasted a year
JUNE FIGURES CONFIRM AVIATION DOWNTURN HAS LASTED A YEAR
Figures issued by NATS today show the decrease in flights in UK airspace has now lasted for a year, with a drop of 10.5 per cent in June 2009, compared to the same month last year.
This is the twelfth consecutive month of decreasing traffic. July 2008 saw the first monthly dip since the year-long downturn following September 11th, 2001.
Between September 2002 and June 2008 the monthly statistics showed an overall increase on the previous year.
Controllers at NATS, the UK’s leading air traffic service provider, handled their millionth flight of the year on Friday 19th June 2009, just over two weeks later than in 2008, when it occurred on 2nd June. In total 200,914 flights were managed by NATS in June 2009.
Despite the reduction in overall traffic, NATS operations at airports and centres remain busy. Controllers at Gatwick Airport broke their own record for flights handled in an hour with 60 recorded on 24th June 2009.
| June
2009 |
June
2008 |
% gr | 2009 to date | 2008 to date | % gr | |
| UK FLIGHTS | 200,914 | 224,375 | -10.5% | 1,078,490 | 1,211,877 | -11.0% |
| CENTRES | ||||||
| London Area Control Centre (Swanwick) | 166,139 | 185,040 | -10.2% | 883,225 | 989,319 | -10.7% |
| London Terminal Control Centre (Swanwick) | 113,069 | 124,527 | -9.2% | 617,901 | 688,505 | -10.3% |
| Manchester Area Control Centre | 45,237 | 52,263 | -13.4% | 241,281 | 284,583 | -15.2% |
| Scottish Area Control Centre | 49,995 | 59,402 | -15.8% | 273,224 | 316,911 | -13.8% |
| Oceanic Area Control Centre (Shanwick) | 36,429 | 39,648 | -8.1% | 191,780 | 208,376 | -8.0% |
| MARKET | ||||||
| Transatlantic Arrivals/Departures | 11,245 | 13,076 | -14.0% | 61,069 | 70,174 | -13.0% |
| Transatlantic Overflights | 17,155 | 19,438 | -11.7% | 90,998 | 99,523 | -8.6% |
| Other Arrivals/Departures | 124,281 | 137,138 | -9.4% | 654,758 | 732,427 | -10.6% |
| Other Overflights | 9,823 | 12,046 | -18.5% | 54,141 | 63,504 | -14.7% |
| Domestic | 38,074 | 42,272 | -9.9% | 215,045 | 244,248 | -12.0% |
End
Notes to Editors:
· NATS handled more than 2.4 million flights in 2008, covering the UK and eastern North Atlantic and carried more than 230 million passengers safely through some of the busiest and most complex airspace in the world.
· NATS provides ‘en route’ air traffic control and management from the London Control Centre at Swanwick, Hampshire, Scottish and Oceanic Area Control Centre at Prestwick, Ayrshire and the Manchester Area Control Centre located at Manchester Airport.
· NATS also provides air traffic control services at 15 of the nation’s major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow, together with air traffic services at Gibraltar Airport.