Aviation data

Report highlights (data up to May 2026):

• The demand for the UK, measured by flight searches x the number of passengers searched for, was on par with May 2025. This was similar to April growth but a decline vs March when there was a boost in searches following the start of the Middle East conflict.
• Long haul markets in aggregate saw a YoY decline of 9% in May, with Canada the only market to see YoY growth. Declines from Saudi Arabia and the UAE continued with double digit declines also observed from Australia and Norway.
• Short haul markets saw 13% growth in aggregate with double digit growth from Spain, Italy and Germany.
• For a competitor view, the Irish Republic saw a decline of 2% in demand in May 2026.
• May 2026 growth was led by searches to Scotland and Northern Ireland. England destinations in aggregate saw a decline of 2% YoY.

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.