The United Kingdom has over a hundred airports and major airfields serving airline and private operators on flights around the world.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, many of these airports suffered a strong decline in passenger numbers and aircraft movements, and have only just started to get towards pre-pandemic figures in many cases.
This has resulted in major changes compared to the years leading up to 2020.
So, with that in mind, what are the busiest airports in the UK today?
London Heathrow
Here are the top 10 in terms of passengers handled:
- London Heathrow (19,393,886)
- London Stansted (7,148,200)
- London Gatwick (6,261,814)
- Manchester (6,085,103)
- London Luton (4,674,800)
- Edinburgh (3,024,960)
- Birmingham (2,482,430)
- Belfast International (2,328,276)
- Bristol (2,087,772)
- Glasgow (2,072,546)
London Stansted
Here are the top 10 in terms of aircraft movements:
- London Heathrow (195,336)
- London Stansted (93,316)
- Manchester (66,310)
- Aberdeen (62,986)
- London Luton (61,703)
- London Gatwick (55,817)
- East Midlands (52,327)
- Edinburgh (43,674)
- Glasgow (39,713)
- Bournemouth (38,304)
A surprising drop for London Gatwick – famously the world’s busiest single-runway airport. Now eclipsed by Aberdeen and Luton (also a single runway airport!).
However, recent news shows that Gatwick as rebounded to 90% of its pre-pandemic traffic levels as of November 2022, so we’ll see what next year’s figures show!
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