UK daily flights are at half of pre-pandemic levels

The number of daily UK flights remains at around half of pre-pandemic levels, according to financial services provider Hargreaves Lansdown.

According to Susannah Streeter, Hargreaves Lansdown’s Senior Investment and Markets Analyst: ‘’Despite high hopes that mass vaccine rollouts would by now have propelled the airline industry upwards on a smooth ride of demand, the latest data shows that turbulence is continuing, with UK daily flights still at half of pre-pandemic levels.”

The reintroduction of travel restrictions has depressed booking figures

The industry suffered significantly following the reintroduction of more stringent Covid travel restrictions and testing requirements following the discovery of the Omicron variant in late 2021, which Streeter says ‘shook the confidence of the travelling public, even though the variant was not as serious as first feared’.

Despite some of these rules subsequently being relaxed, bookings remain depressed, with the seven-day average number of UK daily flights for the week of 10-16 January at just 51 per cent of levels seen for the same week in 2020, before the pandemic reached the UK.

“However, compared to the bleak winter of 2021, when the UK went back into a long lockdown and there were mass cancellations across the board, there has been an improvement,” Streeter continued. “UK daily flights are almost two-and-a-half-times higher than the equivalent week last year, showing the industry has made progress on the long haul flight back to health.”