Shortest month is shorter on growth

UK air traffic in February showed an increase of less than 1% over the same month last year, and a slight drop on January’s numbers.

NATS, the UK’s major provider of air traffic services, safely handled 165,963 flights last month, which was just over 1,000 fewer than in January but represents an increase of 0.6 per cent on February 2024. Non-transatlantic arrivals and departures grew by 2.1 per cent, with flights to and from Spain increasing by 6 per cent but other European markets showing little or no growth, or even shrinking slightly. Flights to and from Germany, for instance, fell by 3 per cent but the biggest shift was in transatlantic arrivals and departures, which fell by 5 per cent.

According to Eurocontrol, NATS handled 24.1 per cent of Europe’s traffic in February and was accountable for just 1.1 per cent of Europe’s delay. 99.7 per cent of flights received no NATS-attributable delay; the average NATS delay per delayed flight was 14.9 minutes.

Kathryn Leahy, Chief Operations Officer

Kathryn Leahy, Chief Operations Officer, said:

“This small dip in traffic growth is a general seasonal trend that we see most years in February, added to the fact that it’s also the shortest month of the year.

“Already in March we’re seeing traffic increase again and, of course, the summer schedules will kick in at the end of the month so we are preparing for a busy summer ahead.”