Ian Hall, our Director, Operational Performance enjoys telling how he was able in 1993 to tell our customers, the airlines, that average delays had been halved from 22 minutes per flight to 11 minutes per flight – and they were delighted.
Today, the average delay per flight is 22 seconds.
NATS is extremely proud of its performance in reducing delays whilst safely handling ever increasing volumes of traffic in some of the most complex airspace in the world. Annual UK air traffic volumes doubled from 1m in 1985 to 2m in 2000, and today stand at around 2.3m.
Latest traffic figures
2007:
- June Air Traffic Sustains Steady Growth
16 July 2007
NATS, the UK's leading air traffic management provider, handled 224,371 flights in June, a 3.2 per cent rise on the same month last year and in line with growth for the year to date. - Air Traffic continues to grow
8 June 2007
NATS, the UK's leading air traffic management provider, handled 220,317 flights in May - a rise of 3.3 per cent on May 2006. - Air Traffic Growth Continues
10 May 2007
NATS, the UK's leading air traffic management provider, handled 195,593 flights in April, a rise of 4.2 per cent per cent over April 2006. - Air Traffic Growth Continues
13 April 2007
NATS, the UK's leading air traffic management provider, handled 196,869 flights in March, a rise of 4.1 per cent over March 2006. - Air Traffic Shows Steady Growth
13 February 2007
NATS, the UK's leading air traffic management provider, handled 184,018 flights in January, a rise of 3.7 per cent over January 2006. - Record Year for Air Travel
11 January 2007
NATS, the UK's leading air traffic management provider, handled a record 2,386,105 flights in 2006, up 3.5 per cent over the previous year. The continued popularity of low cost carriers together with flights between Ireland and Europe contributed to the record-breaking figure. - Ahead of time for two millionth flight
8 November 2006
NATS, the UK's leading air traffic management provider, handled its two millionth flight of 2006 on Friday 27 October, 11 days earlier than last year.B B October also saw the number of flights grow to 212,573, an increase of 3.6 per cent over the same period last year.
2006:
- Record day for NATSRecord day for NATS
9 October 2006
NATS, the UK's leading air traffic management provider, has handled a record 7,864 flights in a single day. The record breaking figure was achieved on Friday 1 September and was reached as airlines affected by the summer security alert returned to pre-August growth levels. NATS handled 217,930 flights in September, an increase of 3.3 per cent over the same month last year.
Full story (in news section) - Traffic growth for NATS despite national security alert
8 September 2006
NATS, the UK's leading air traffic management provider, has seen the number of flights increase in August despite the security alert of 10 August. The company handled 220,408 flights, an increase of 3.1 per cent over August last year.
Full story (in news section) - Record breaking month for NATS
9 August 2006
NATS, the UK’s leading air traffic management provider, has handled a record 224,270 flights in July, a rise of 2.8 per cent over July last year. This record breaking figure was supported by individual monthly records at four of NATS’ en-route centres.
Full story (in news section) - Record day for NATS
7 July 2006
NATS, the UK's leading air traffic management provider, has handled a record 7,824 flights in a single day. The record breaking figure was reached on Friday 16 June, a month which also saw NATS handle 217,331 flights, an increase of 3.5 per cent over the same month last year.
Full story (in news section) - Millionth flight keeps NATS on track for record year
12 June 2006
NATS, the UK’s leading air traffic management provider, has handled its 1,000,000th flight of 2006, six days earlier than last year. The flight on 9 June was a bmibaby flight from Cork to Birmingham.
Full story (in news section) - Late Easter slows air traffic growth
12 May 2006
NATS, the UK's leading air traffic management provider, handled a record 187,788 flights in April, but the late Easter slowed the rate of growth to 2.1 per cent over April 2005.
Full story (in news section) - Flights reach record levels
7 April 2006
A record number of flights were handled by NATS, the UK's leading air traffic management provider, in the financial year 2005/2006. A total of 2,330,589 flights used UK airspace, an increase of 5.9 per cent on the financial year 2004/2005.
Full story (in news section) - Air Traffic continues steady growth
13 March 2006
NATS handled 167,818 flights in February, a rise of 5.1 per cent over February 2005.
Full story (in news section) - January 2006: Air traffic grows into the new year
Posted 09 February 2006
NATS handled 177,402 flights in January, a rise of 5.6 per cent over January 2005.
Full story (in news section) - Record year for air travel
Posted 5 January 2006
NATS handled a record 2.3 million flights through British airspace in 2005.
Full story (in news section)
2005:
- November flights show a steady increase
Posted 8 December 2005
National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the UK's leading air traffic management provider, handled 176,259 flights in November, a rise of 4.2 per cent over November 2004.
Full story (in news section) - NATS Handles Two Millionth Flight Of The Year
Posted: 14 November 2005
National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the UK's leading air traffic management provider, handled its 2,000,000th flight of 2005 yesterday (November 8), 20 days earlier than last year.
Full story (in news section) - September Flights Soar, Says NATS
Posted: 11 October 2005
National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the UK's leading air traffic management provider, handled 210,895 flights in September, a rise of 6.4 per cent over September 2004.
Full story (in news section) - Flights Up, Delays Down Says NATS
Posted: 9 September 2005
National Air Traffic Services (NATS) handled 213,756 flights in August, a rise of 6.8 per cent over August 2004.
Full story (in news section) - Flights Reach Record Levels as Delays Fall, Says NATS
Posted: 10 August 2005
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.
Full story (in news section) - NATS Sets New UK Flight Record
Posted: 11 July 2005
National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the UK's leading air traffic management provider, handled 210,023 flights in June 2005, an increase of 7.5% on the previous year and a new monthly record.
Full story (in news section) - Budget Carriers Break May Flights Record
Posted: 9 June 2005
National Air Traffic Services (NATS) handled a record 205,378 flights in May, 7.3 per cent up on 2004 and its highest-ever monthly total.
Full story (in news section) - Low-Cost Carriers Lead April Flights Growth
Posted: 11 May 2005
National Air Traffic Services (NATS) handled 183,997 flights in April, a rise of six per cent over April 2004, and despite an increase in the volume of traffic, NATS' punctuality performance continued to improve.
Full story (in news section) - Flights Reach Record Levels As Delays Continue To Fall
Posted: 12 April 2005
Financial year end figures from NATS, the UK's leading air traffic management provider, show that in 2004/2005 it handled record numbers of flights with fewer delays.
Full story (in news section) - Low-cost Carriers Lead February Flights Growth
Posted: 10 March 2005
National Air Traffic Services (NATS) handled 159,678 flights in February, an increase of 2 per cent over February 2004, despite 2004 being a Leap Year.
Full story (in news section) - Flights Up Despite Cancellations
Posted: 9 February 2005
National Air Traffic Services (NATS) handled 167,987 flights in January, an increase of 4.9 per cent on the same month last year.
Full story (in news section) - Flights Reach Record Levels as Delays Fall
Posted: 7 January 2005
Year end figures from National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the UK's leading air traffic management provider, show that in 2004 it handled more flights than ever with fewer delays.
