In September, NATS handled 237,906 flights in UK airspace, an increase of 0.4 per cent compared to September last year.

There was growth in several areas of the operation compared to the same month last year - non-transatlantic international overflying traffic increased by 12.1 per cent; and traffic grew at both of NATS’ air traffic control centres at Swanwick (0.4 per cent) and Prestwick (1.4 per cent).

There was also growth at six of the 14 airports where NATS provides the air traffic services, including two of the ’big five’ London Airports – London City and Luton.

NATS handled almost a quarter of all the traffic in Europe in September, with 98 per cent punctuality across the 237,906 flights.

Year-to-date, the average air traffic control delay per flight is 9.7 seconds.

Juliet Kennedy, NATS operations director, said: “Traffic growth remains steady, with 0.4 per cent growth in September and just over one per cent growth so far this year.

“We handled our two millionth flight of the year on September 25th, three days earlier than in 2018; a decade ago, this number of flights was not reached until October and even November, showing the growth that has happened in the industry since then.”