International Air Travel Has Substantially Decreased Since 2019

30th October 2021

The number of people travelling to and from the UK by air has decreased by 97% since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The International Passenger Survey (IPS), which collects details from overseas residents leaving the UK, and UK residents returning home, shows overseas residents made 277,000 visits by air to the UK during Quarter 2 (April to June) 2021.

This was 97% fewer than Quarter 2 2019 as travel continues to be restricted because of COVID-19. People travelling to visit friends and relatives decreased by 93% to 173,000, holiday visits decreased by 99.6% to 13,000 and business trips decreased by 97% to 44,000.

Overseas residents spent £386 million on their visits to the UK in Quarter 2 2021; this was 94% less than their spend in Quarter 2 2019.

UK residents made 1 million visits abroad by air in Quarter 2 2021, which was 95% fewer than Quarter 2 2019. The largest number of visits was made to Europe (733,000); a fall of 96% in comparison to Quarter 2 2019.

UK residents spent £1,122 million on visits abroad in Quarter 2 2021; this was 93% less than in Quarter 2 2019.

The data collected from the IPS is for air travel only therefore all of the comparisons in this analysis are between air travel for 2019 and 2021.

This is because sea and tunnel data could not be collected because of COVID-19 restrictions. However, overall sea and tunnel numbers provided by administrative data show a similar decrease as air travel. Sea and tunnel numbers constitute approximately 20% of all traffic before the pandemic.

See more at this report -
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/leisureandtourism/bulletins/overseastravelandtourism/apriltojune2021