NATS performance figures show continued traffic growth

Air traffic figures for the first nine months of 2023 show the UK aviation industry is busier than it has been since the pandemic, although still slightly below the record 2019 flight numbers. In the year so far, NATS has safely managed more than 1.8m flights in UK airspace, compared with 1.6m in the same period last year, an increase of over 12%. This summer’s busiest day was 7 July with 8,010 flights, compared to the record-breaking 8,592 in July 2019. While overall volumes are below 2019 traffic across the UK, many airspace sectors are experiencing demand in excess of