August marks busiest month for UK air traffic since Covid

August is scheduled to be the busiest month for UK air departures since 2019, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

But traffic will remain at 80% of August 2019 levels, lower than previously scheduled due to significant short-haul flight cancellations, in particular by easyJet and British Airways.

BA is scheduled to fly 75% of its summer 2019 capacity through August and suspended late bookings of short-haul flights from Heathrow this week and next to comply with a cap on departing passenger numbers imposed by Heathrow to limit disruption.

UK traffic also remains behind the global recovery in flight capacity, estimated to be 86% of the 2019 level this month by rival aviation analytics firm OAG.

Cirium reports 83,546 flight departures are scheduled from UK airports in August, 81% up on August 2021 and equivalent to almost 14.6 million seats.

It will make August the busiest month for UK air traffic since October 2019, according to Cirium. However, the comparison is between the busiest month of the year and the final month of the summer season in 2019.

Cirum notes easyJet has the largest number of UK departing flights scheduled in August, with more than 16,500, followed by Ryanair with 13,000, BA with 12,100, and Jet2 6,000.

However, Ryanair remains by far the largest airline operating in Europe, with capacity this summer up 15% on 2019.

Dublin has the most flights scheduled from the UK, with almost 3,000, followed by Amsterdam, Palma de Mallorca and Malaga.