The Public Private Partnership was established in July 2001 and strengthened in 2003 following a financial restructuring prompted by the financial downturn following 9/11. NATS is now owned 49% by the Government; 42% by The Airline Group, a consortium of UK airlines; 4% by BAA and 5% by an Employee Share Trust. The company has just reported its fifth successive year of profit.
In the last year we have continued to maintain our strong safety record, whilst handling record numbers of flights.
NATS-attributable delays have been reduced from more than two minutes at the time of the PPP to an average of less than 5 seconds per flight in the financial year 2009/10.
| Financial year ended 31 March | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Flights handled | 2,200,665 | 2,330,589 | 2,405,573 | 2,470,940 | 2,371,624 | 2,172,025 |
| Delay seconds (attributable to NATS) | 20.9 | 22.2 | 22.6 | 26.8 | 19.3 | 4.3 |
| Safety (Airprox) – where NATS is providing service | 71 | 56 | 55 | 54 | 52 | 41 |
| Safety (Airprox) – NATS attributable | 27 | 17 | 17 | 20 | 17 | 6 |
| Safety (Airprox) – Risk bearing (A/B) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| NATS Group profit/(loss) before tax (£m) | 85.3m | 80.3m | 94.4m | 66.7m | 135.5m | 78.3m |
| NATS Group net debt (£m) | 630.2m | 598.5m | 577.3m | 538.1m | 480.3m | 519.7m |