Flight capacity from the UK in the summer peak hit record levels and surpassed the same period in pre-Covid 2019, new data shows.
More than 51.24 million seats were on offer on 282,775 flights departing from UK airports in the three months to the end of September.
The growth was attributed to airlines continuing to introduce larger aircraft to their fleets, including on UK routes, and also “densifying” their aircraft to fit more seats, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
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Dubai was reported to be the most popular destination from the UK with 10,508 flights and 1.5 million seats.
Amsterdam was the second most popular with 9,701 flights, followed by Majorca, Alicante and Malaga.
The top single route was Heathrow to New York JFK with 2,019 flights, which equates to more than 500,000 seats.
EasyJet operated the most flights in the this quarter of the year with 57,527 flights, ahead of British Airways with 46,296 flights and Ryanair with 41,099 flights.
The third quarter surpassed 264,158 flights operated in the second three months of the year and 208,546 in the first quarter.
Cirium expects 236,002 flights to be operated in the current quarter of 2024.