Covid-19 travel restrictions led to a 71% slump in international flight to and from the UK in 2021 from pre-pandemic levels, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Its annual On-Time Performance Review 2021 showed 406,060 flew to and from the UK from January to December 2021, compared to 1,399,170 in 2019.
The largest international route in 2021 from the UK was Heathrow to New York JFK, despite the US only reopening its borders on November 8.
Five airlines – British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and newcomer JetBlue – flew more than 2,410 flights on the route this year.
UK domestic flights over the same period were down nearly 60% compared with 2019,
Cirium said flights operating within the Common Travel Area that covers Ireland and UK overseas territories “showed strong recovery in 2021, as arrivals into the UK faced no testing or quarantine mandates”. Two UK-Dublin routes, from Heathrow and Gatwick, feature in its top 10 list of international routes from the UK.
Of the 10 busiest routes from the UK, nine departed from Heathrow and one from Gatwick.
Heathrow saw the most flights, with mor than 78,820 recorded in 2021. Stansted was second, with 32,070 flights, followed by Manchester (29,690), Gatwick (25,960), and Luton (19,770).
Eight European routes featured in the top 10, including Heathrow to Amsterdam, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt in third, fourth and fifth respectively.
Jeremy Bowen, chief executive of Cirium, said the analysis – based on flight data from more than 600 sources of real-time flight information – shows a “huge pent-up demand for restriction free flying”.
Short-haul
Low-cost carriers operated the most UK flights in the short-haul market.
Ryanair (including Ryanair UK), operated 101,420 flights in 2021, equivalent to nearly 18.8 million seats ahead of easyJet which flew more than 82,580 flights (about 14.9 million seats).
British Airways followed the budget airlines in terms of flights, operating 77,460, but in terms of seats was in second place with 15.2 million.
Regional carrier Loganair was in fourth place, with Jet2.com in fifth.
Domestic
Loganair operated the most domestic services (32,830) in 2021, followed by easyJet (32,800) and British Airways (15,390). In 2019, Flybe topped the list – operating 87,020 flights.
The busiest domestic route, by flights, was the 31-mile route from Land’s End to St Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly which saw 2,330 one-way flights this year, all operated by Isles of Scilly Skybus’ seven aircraft.
Heathrow to Belfast City saw more than 1,590 flights while there were 1,530 from Heathrow to Edinburgh.
On-time carriers
Spanish International Airlines Group carriers dominated the top five on-time airlines in Europe, according to Cirium
In its 2021 On-Time Performance Review European category, Vueling took top spot as the most on-time airline in Europe with 92.1% of its flights on time. Iberia Express (91.8%) and Iberia (90.3%) followed in second and third place.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) was the most on-time airline in the global category with 95% of its flights on time, closely followed by Japan Airlines (JAL) with 94.1%. Aeroflot was third place (91%), LATAM fourth (88.7%) and Delta Air Lines fifth (87.8%).
Delta also won Cirium’s inaugural Platinum Award for the airline with outstanding performance considering the complexity of its operation, volume of flights, diversity of its network and other key operational factors.