July figures show rate of decline is slowing

The rate of decrease for the reduction in flights in UK controlled airspace dropped to single figures for July, according to statistics published today.

NATS, the UK’s leading provider of air traffic services, showed a fall of 8.9 per cent compared to the same month last year with 210,844 flights this month against 231,537 in July 2008.  Results for April, May and June recorded double digit decreases of 11%.

However, July is traditionally the busiest month for air traffic because of the demand for holiday flights, so this may prove to be a temporary boost to numbers.

All centres and markets posted a reduction in traffic with the only exceptions being growth of 0.5 per cent at Aberdeen Airport and a rise of 1.9 per cent in arrivals and departures from Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

And flights to Turkey recorded a rise of 12.6 per cent on last year, believed to be a result of new routes to service tourist demand to a destination outside the euro zone.