UK airports handled a record 81.16 million passengers in the second quarter of 2026, as the Civil Aviation Authority’s latest data showed traffic edging above the previous high set a year earlier. The total was only about 120,000 higher than in the same period of 2025, leaving underlying growth at roughly 0.15% despite the headline record.
The figures point to a resilient UK aviation market in the spring and early summer, with strong short-haul European demand and budget-carrier traffic helping to offset weaker routes linked to Middle East disruption. The pattern also suggests the record was driven more by a shift in traffic mix than by broad-based acceleration across the network.
The second quarter covers April to June, a period that typically captures some of the busiest leisure travel months for UK airports. Even so, the modest year-on-year increase indicates that demand remained stable rather than surging, while airlines serving price-sensitive European markets continued to take a larger share of traffic.