NATS sees out the summer with further traffic increase

During August NATS handled 210,615 flights, which is an increase of 2.2% compared to the same period last year.

Nine out of the fifteen airports where NATS operates air traffic control saw a rise in scheduled air traffic last month. Leading this rise was Stansted with an increase of 7.6%, Birmingham followed suit with a rise of 6.4% and Glasgow saw a rise of 6.3%.

NATS attributable delay totalled 11327 minutes last month, which despite the seasonal increase in traffic makes this the third lowest August total since records began in the 1990s.

The UK market grew by 2.2% last month, with the Non-transatlantic Overflights sector leading the way with a 5.9% rise and Transatlantic Arrivals/Departures also growing by 5.0%. The Domestic market declined by 4.8%.

Martin Rolfe, Managing Director Operations, NATS, said: “August has been another positive month for NATS. It concludes a successful summer where delays have been kept to a minimum alongside increases in scheduled air traffic at the majority of airports where we operate air traffic control. This is great news for our airline and airport customers as we head towards the autumn months.”