NATS, the UK’s leading air traffic management provider, handled 172,975 flights in February, a rise of 3.1 per cent over February 2006.
NATS' London Area Control Centre at Swanwick, Hampshire recorded an increase of 3.3 per cent bringing the number of flights to 139,840.
The London Terminal Control Centre at West Drayton showed growth of 2.5 per cent to 101,025 flights, the Scottish Area Control Centre at Prestwick reported an increase of 1.6 per cent to 44,436 flights and the Oceanic Area Control Centre, also located at Prestwick, recorded an increase of 4.7 per cent to 27,589 flights.
The Transatlantic market continued to perform well with arrivals/departures showing growth of 7.2%. Non-transatlantic overflights showed a 20.7% increase with the largest growth between Ireland and Poland, Spain, Germany, France.
Collectively, traffic grew by 1.2 per cent at the 15 UK airports where NATS provides air traffic services. Strong traffic growth was shown at some regional airports, including Farnborough with 26.5 per cent growth and Cardiff with 13.7 per cent.
| Feb 2007 | Feb 2006 | % gr | 2007 to Date | 2006 to Date | % gr | |
| UK Flights | 172,975 | 167,818 | 3.1% | 356,993 | 345,220 | 3.4% |
| Centres | ||||||
| London Area Control Centre (Swanwick) | 139,840 | 135,351 | 3.3% | 288,021 | 279.215 | 3.2% |
| London Terminal Control Centre | 101,025 | 98,567 | 2.5% | 208,606 | 202,863 | 2.8% |
| London Terminal Control Centre | 42,729 | 43,166 | -1.0% | 87,893 | 87,701 | 0.2% |
| Scottish Area Control Centre | 44,436 | 43,742 | 1.6% | 92,354 | 89,490 | 3.2% |
| Oceanic Area Control Centre (Shanwick) | 27,589 | 26,360 | 4.7% | 57,264 | 55,027 | 4.1% |
| Market | ||||||
| Transatlantic Arrivals/Departures | 9,991 | 9,319 | 7.2% | 20,870 | 19,416 | 7.5% |
| Transatlantic Overflights | 12,426 | 12,256 | 1.4% | 26,599 | 25,490 | 4.4% |
| Other Arrivals/Departures | 104,172 | 100,898 | 3.2% | 231,846 | 207,196 | 3.2% |
| Other Overflights | 8,452 | 7,005 | 20.7% | 17,256 | 14,455 | 19.4% |
| Domestic | 37,653 | 38,100 | -1.2% | 77,871 | 78,126 | -0.3% |