The UK’s Airport Record Hides a Huge Traffic Shift

The UK’s Airport Record Hides a Huge Traffic Shift UK airports handled more passengers between April and June than in any comparable quarter on record – but the milestone masks a dramatic change in the traffic mix and the airlines carrying it. More than 81 million passengers boarded or disembarked at UK airports during the second quarter, up almost 123,000 from the same period last year. This modest rise of around 0.15% came despite a collapse in Gulf traffic following the start of the Iran war. New data from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) shows traffic between the UK and UAE fell 42%, while Qatar was down 45%, Saudi Arabia 40%, Bahrain 54% and Kuwait 68%. Together, these five Gulf markets lost close to 1.5 million passengers. At an airline level, Emirates’ UK passenger numbers fell 46% and Qatar Airways’ fell 42%. Dubai was particularly hard hit, with passenger numbers falling 50% and the city dropping to 15th on the CAA's international destination table – it usually ranks c