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Our quarterly Aviation Trends report.

The images below are taken from the CAA’s quarterly Aviation Trends report. They show annual records of UK flight movements, passengers, punctuality and more, over the past 10 years. Further information and detail are held in the report.

For the full quarterly Aviation Trends report see: Aviation trends 2026 Q1

For access to the underlying data in the report see:

10 year trends

Annual Passengers, Air Transport Movements (ATM) and Cargo Tonnage

ATM's (millions)

(NB: 2025 values are year-to-date and will update throughout the year)

Visual representation of the data laid out in the table below

Year ATM (millions)
2016 2.2
2017 2.3
2018 2.3
2019 2.3
2020 0.9
2021 0.8
2022 1.7
2023 2
2024 2.1
2025 2.1
2026 0.4

Terminal passengers (millions)

Visual representation of the data laid out in the table below

Year Terminal passengers (millions)
2016 271
2017 288
2018 295
2019 300
2020 74
2021 65
2022 224
2023 276
2024 295
2025 302
2016 61

Cargo tonnage (millions)

Visual representation of the data laid out in the table below

Year Cargo tonnage (millions)
2016 2.6
2017 2.8
2018 2.8
2019 2.7
2020 2.2
2021 2.5
2022 2.3
2023 2.4
2024 2.7
2025 2.8
2026 0.7

Average load factor (%)

Visual representation of the data laid out in the table below

Year Average load factor (%)
2016 81
2017 82
2018 84
2019 84
2020 61
2021 57
2022 79
2023 82
2024 83
2025 83
2026 79

Average seats per flight

Visual representation of the data laid out in the table below

Year Average seat per flight
2016 162
2017 165
2018 166
2019 170
2020 164
2021 165
2022 177
2023 181
2024 183
2025 185
2026 187

Flight punctuality trends

Percentage on time performance (percentage of flights operated within 15mins of scheduled time)

(NB: 2025 values are year-to-date and will update throughout the year)

Visual representation of the data laid out in the table below

Year Flights operated within 15mins of scheduled time (%)
2016 75
2017 75
2018 72
2019 75
2020 83
2021 83
2022 62
2023 64
2024 67
2025 73
2026 77

Average delay minutes per flight

Visual representation of the data laid out in the table below

Year Average delay minutes per flight
2016 15
2017 14
2018 18
2019 15
2020 10
2021 9
2022 22
2023 21
2024 19
2025 15
2026 13

Percentage of flights cancelled (within 24 hours before departure)

(NB: Comprehensive cancellation data is reported from 2018.)

Visual representation of the data laid out in the table below

Year Flight cancelled within 24 hours of scheduled departure (%)
2016 0.3
2017 0.6
2018 1.5
2019 0.9
2020 3.7
2021 1.2
2022 1.6
2023 1.8
2024 1.4
2025 1.0
2026 1.7