U.K. air traffic inches to a new record in 2018: NATS

Thursday, February 7, 2019

With 2,557,780 flights in 2018, U.K. broke its annual air traffic record by 0.3 per cent. The summer months such as May, June and July exceeded the previous peaks. May 25^th saw the single day record of 8,854 flights handled by NATS controllers in the U.K.

Despite increased traffic levels, NATS delay figures have improved with an average per flight delay of 12.5 seconds in 2018, compared with 26.8 seconds in 2007. It represents a 60 per cent reduction in delays, attributed mainly to the new technology. The traffic levels exceed the 2007 peak.

Juliet Kennedy, NATS operations director, said: “Our controllers do an extraordinary job under great pressure, especially at peak holiday periods.”  He added, “The next few years are critical if we are to futureproof our skies, so we are working with our industry partners now to plan, update and modernise airspace.”

The increased demand of their airspace put lot of pressure, with areas over the south-east already experiencing a capacity crunch at peak times during the day.

In 2019, air traffic is forecast to increase by one per cent in the U.K. Flight Information Region, with at two per cent increase expected in 2020.

NATS is the U.K.’s leading provider of air traffic control services. Each year they manage 2.4 million flights and 250 million passengers in UK airspace.

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