Following the October half-term holidays, statistics from Cirium show how flights have recovered compared to pre-pandemic levels. During October half-term, 17,598 flights were scheduled to depart UK airports – equating to over three million seats.
Departures from UK airports during October half-term remain 18% down compared to the same period in 2019 when there were 21,394 departing flights.
Departures are up 55% compared to half-term 2021, showing the continued recovery of the industry. The most popular international destinations for UK departures were Dublin, Amsterdam and Palma de Mallorca.
EasyJet was the largest airline during the holiday period, with 3771 departures from the UK, followed by British Airways, Ryanair and Jet2.com. Heathrow Airport saw the largest number of departures, 3,898, followed by Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester.