NATS reports increases for UK air traffic in June

NATS handled 224,716 flights in June, an increase of 2.5 per cent compared to June 2014.

These latest air traffic figures confirm that the number of flights continues to increase on a month by month basis.

According to NATS internal traffic data, transatlantic arrivals and departures remained buoyant and grew by 6.1 per cent in June 2015 versus June 2014.
Non-transatlantic overflights also increased, with growth of 6.1 per cent.

Domestic flights increased by 4.3 per cent, which is the eighth consecutive month of growth recorded for this sector.

The increase in domestic flights can be partly attributed to new routes being added between London and Scottish airports, as well as additional routes from the Isle of Man, Southampton and Manchester.

There were also increases in non-transatlantic arrivals and departures and transatlantic overflights (1.9 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively) when compared to the same month in 2014.

An absence of inclement weather in June contributed towards the growth in all sectors.

Juliet Kennedy, operations director at Swanwick, NATS, said: “The continued growth in air traffic is really good to see.

“Unfortunately, June also saw an increase in NATS-attributable delay, some of which was due to spikes of very high demand that exceeded capacity on a number of sectors of airspace.

“This is still less than the European average, however we are working hard to ensure that this figure decreases in the coming months.”