 |
| Photo: NATS |
[Avionics Today 05-15-2015] NATS reports that air traffic in the United Kingdom increased by 1.2 percent in April compared to the same month last year, with no en-route delay attributable to NATS for 99.95 percent of flights. Last month NATS managed 192,843 flights, with a 6.4 percent increase of transatlantic arrivals/departures leading the growth in the U.K. market. Transatlantic overflights and domestic flights were also up around 3.5 percent each from April 2014’s figures.
According to the Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), the rise in all market sectors last month was not only because of the introduction of the airline’s summer schedules, but also due to a run of good weather conditions. April also saw industrial action by air traffic controllers in France, with some airlines choosing to re-route through U.K. airspace.
“Several airports have reported record passenger numbers last month and that has been mirrored by a rise in air traffic. This is both an encouraging sign for the industry as a whole and an indicator of the wider economic recovery,” said Martin Rolfe, managing director of operations at NATS. “Although the French industrial action caused some disruption to flights, we safely handled high levels of traffic choosing to re-route through U.K. airspace on those days.