2018 busiest year for UK air traffic on record

NATS reported higher levels of traffic than 2007, the previous peak year prior to the economic downturn.

During 2018, the UK broke its annual air traffic record by 0.3 per cent with 2,557,780 flights compared with 2,550,102 flights in 2007.

It means there has been six consecutive years of growth since traffic started to increase again after the global financial crisis.

The summer months saw previous flight records broken as travel in May, June and July exceeded previous peaks.

A high of 8,854 flights handled by NATS controllers on a single day in the UK was recorded on May 25 last year.  

Juliet Kennedy, NATS operations director, said: ‘Our controllers do an extraordinary job under great pressure, especially at peak holiday periods. 

‘This increased demand on our airspace does put it under pressure though. 

‘The next few years are critical if we are to future-proof our skies, so we are working with our industry partners now to modernise.’