National Air Traffic Services (NATS) handled a record 218,264 flights in July, 6.5 per cent up on the same month in 2004 and the highest monthly figure ever recorded. Despite the growth, NATS held the average attributable delay per flight to 38.7 seconds, compared with 41.4 seconds in July last year.
All of NATS' en-route air traffic control centres have handled record levels of traffic so far this year. The Manchester Centre has recorded the strongest growth, up 5.6 per cent to 55,491 flights. The London Area Control Centre, Swanwick has handled 175,024 flights (up 5.0 per cent) and the Oceanic Control Centre Prestwick has handled 36,415 flights, up 4.6 per cent.
Strong growth continues at the UK's regional airports with en route traffic from Bournemouth, Leeds-Bradford, Liverpool, London City and Southampton all showing year-on-year growth above 15%. Intra-European overflights (flying through UK airspace without landing here) showed continued strong growth of 14.5 per cent over 2004, mostly from the low-cost sector.
| July 2005 | July 2004 | % | 2005 to date | 2004 to date | % | ||
| UK FLIGHTS | 218,868 | 204,868 | 6.5% | 1,326,851 | 1,253,915 | 5.8% | |
CENTRES | |||||||
| London Area Control Centre (Swanwick) | 175,024 | 167,078 | 4.8% | 1,071,529 | 1,020,382 | 5.0% | |
| London Terminal Control Centre | 120,876 | 116,157 | 4.1% | 760,493 | 730,256 | 4.1% | |
| Manchester Area Control Centre | 55,491 | 55,126 | 0.7% | 352,157 | 333,565 | 5.6% | |
| Scottish Area Control Centre | 56,013 | 55,054 | 1.7% | 345,966 | 338,907 | 2.1% | |
| Oceanic Area Control Centre (Shanwick)* | 36,415 | 34,613 | 5.2% | 215,814 | 206,228 | 4.6% | |
MARKET | |||||||
| Transatlantic Arrivals/ Departures | 13,156 | 12,538 | 4.9% | 77,198 | 74,392 | 3.8% | |
| Transatlantic Overflights | 16,827 | 16,076 | 4.7% | 98,991 | 97,606 | 1.4% | |
| Other Arrivals/ Departures | 134,267 | 125,721 | 6.8% | 806,637 | 761,203 | 6.0% | |
| Other Overflights | 9,579 | 8,366 | 14.5% | 52,717 | 47,223 | 11.6% | |
| Domestic | 44,001 | 41,759 | 5.4% | 288,420 | 271,063 | 6.4% |
10 August 2005
