The travel industry looks set for a bright year ahead as Cirium data revealed that international flights from the UK are up 545% this February half term, compared with figures from 2021. With 7,746 international flights set to depart from the UK this February half term, equating to 1,515,018 seats, there is great cause for celebration as the travel industry’s recovery goes from strength to strength.
The most popular international destination by number of departing flights is Dublin, with 446 flights during half-term.
This is followed by Amsterdam, Geneva and Tenerife-South. The most popular country is Spain, with many travelers hoping to catch some last-minute winter sun.
This week, it’s been reported that Greece, Portugal and France have eased travel restrictions for fully vaccinated travelers ahead of the half term break, with flights to these areas set to increase. In addition, Morocco and Australia are re-opening their borders this month, after 16 weeks and almost two years respectively. Australia’s reopening in particular shows the global easing of concerns over the pandemic and the move towards learning to live with the virus as society would the common cold.
However, 2022 half term flights are still 42% down when compared with February half term data for 2020, but Cirium predicts that global air traffic is expected to recover to around 15% below pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year, with domestic markets likely to fully recover in 2022.
As the government scraps day two arrival testing for fully vaccinated travelers, Cirium have also analysed the number of flights and seats into the UK for February half-term, to highlight the effect this will have.
With almost as many flights expected to land into the UK from international destinations (7,743 flights, to be exact), we expect a tourism boost over the break, with over 1.5m seats available across these flights.
Looking at the schedules for Spring, focusing specifically on April, Cirium data clearly shows that the travel industry’s recovery is underway. International flights from the UK in April 2022 are up 845% when compared to April 2021, and up 840% compared to April 2020. When comparing April 2022 with April 2019, we can see that departing international flights are only down 16%.
Note: Half-term dates used:
Feb 17-23, 2020
Feb 15-21, 2021
Feb 14-20 2022
