Aviation data

View the latest data and insights from our flight searches and air traffic data to the UK.

Flight searches to the UK (ForwardKeys, 2026)

Flight searches data from ForwardKeys (an Amadeus company) covers the volume of flight searches to the UK as well as the year-on-year growth in searches for the UK as a travel destination.

Report highlights (data up to April 2026):

  • The demand for the UK, measured by flight searches x the number of passengers searched for, was around on par with the previous year in April (up 1%), following a boost in March.
  • Long haul markets in aggregate saw a YoY decline of 10% in April, with China the only market to see YoY growth. Demand from Australia and Canada saw a dip in April with larger declines from Saudi Arabia and the UAE likely driven by the conflict in the Middle East.
  • Short haul markets saw 16% growth in aggregate with double digit growth from Germany, Spain, France and Italy.
  • For a competitor view, the Irish Republic saw stronger YoY growth in demand vs the UK in April 2026 (+4% vs +1%).
  • April 2026 growth was led by searches to Scotland.
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Flight Searches Monthly Update - data up to April 2026 (ForwardKeys, an Amadeus company)

Use the visualisation to explore trends for flight searches to the UK.

Explore the flight searches data

Use the visualisation to explore trends for flight searches to the UK.

Air traffic to the UK (Amadeus, 2026)

Air traffic data from Amadeus integrates bookings, schedules, public statistics, and airport official statistics to model total air traffic into and within the UK.

Report highlights (data up to March 2026):

  • In March, inbound air traffic to the UK was 3% higher than what was seen in the same month in 2025, a slight weakening of the 5% growth seen in February 2026 compared to previous year levels.
  • Inbound air traffic to the UK in March 2026 also exceeded 2024 and 2023 but saw similar levels to 2019. Forecasts predict that inbound air traffic will remain above 2025 levels up to September but fall below 2019 levels in the early summer months.
  • Domestic air traffic in the UK saw higher year-on-year growth than inbound air traffic in March 2026, with long haul markets seeing a significant decline in air traffic linked to the Middle East conflict. Short haul markets continued the pattern of year-on-year growth seen since summer 2025. 
  • Amongst the top UK cities for inbound air traffic Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne saw the most year-on-year growth. Amongst all UK cities, Stornoway, Shetland Islands and Durham demonstrated the strongest growth within March 2026 compared to March 2019.
     
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Amadeus Air Traffic - March 2026

Explore the latest month's trends in air traffic to and within the UK.

About the data:

  • The data model for Air Traffic integrates bookings, schedules, public statistics, and airport official statistics. Amadeus monitors the accuracy of their data to ensure that it remains above 90% for each market.
  • Inbound within the report refers to a sum of 9 key source markets; Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and the USA. There is also data referring to the UK/domestic market. Our analysis excludes UK travellers returning to the UK from other destinations.
  • Data is available from 2019 and up to 6 months ahead of the most recent reporting month.
  • Please do not re-publish data from this report on any public platform, including combining the data with that from other sources, before contacting VisitBritain/VisitEngland for approval.

About the data

About the data:

The ForwardKeys Flight Searches data provides data on the demand of the UK as a travel destination, and the level of interest for potential visitors at an early stage in the consumer journey. The data gives us an insight into which specific markets are interested in visiting the UK and how demand for trips to the UK is changing between years, months and even days.

  • The ForwardKeys database aggregates searches for the largest travel agencies and metasearch engines.
  • The measure of ‘searches’ within the report and dashboard is based on a calculation of the number of searches which took place x the number of passengers included within each search (i.e. travel party size), giving us an estimation of the total potential demand for the destinations. Repeated searches across different platforms are present in the data.
  • Data is available from 2019 to present day with a 2 week lag, with detailed data on flight searches to the UK by flight distance, trip origin, destination city, and length of stay.
  • The origin and destination refers to the location of the airport being searched for rather than where the search is being made from.
  • The dashboard and report inbound searches and the total represents the 15 inbound markets we have access to - Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, USA and the UAE.
  • Market penetration of flight searches is higher in Europe and North America, and low in Asian markets.
  • This analysis only includes searches which include a stay in the UK or Irish Republic and therefore excludes day trips, one-way trips or those returning home to the UK.
  • Data from the monthly report may differ to the dashboard as the dashboard is updated weekly, with a lag time of 2 weeks for flight searches.
  • The ForwardKeys flight searches data shows visitor interest in flying to the UK but is not an indication of actual visitor inbound numbers.
  • If this data is being used for comparing to other inbound searches, please bear in mind that the data does not capture any passengers/bookings made via train/ferry.