Crowded skies as long-haul picks up

BRITAIN'S skies are busier than ever, with the number of flights through UK airspace up 6% year on year, while February saw a 17th consecutive record monthly workload for air traffic control.

National Air Traffic Services said today it dealt with 156,576 air movements last month, equal to 5,400 a day or 225 an hour.

Transatlantic air traffic had dwindled after the 9/11 terrorist atrocities two-and-a-half years ago, but Nats has been kept busy by the soaring number of nofrills domestic and European short-haul services.

However, Nats' latest figures point to the long-awaited return of intercontinental traffic. In February, while domestic traffic grew 2.4%, transatlantic flights rose nearly 10% and other international services by 7%.

Meanwhile, the dogfight for supremacy between Europe's two premier budget airlines took another twist today as easyJet zeroed in on Ryanair's leadership in passenger numbers.

Ryanair reclaimed top spot last year after its takeover of Buzz. But near-20% growth by easyJet saw it come within 10,000 passengers of catching Ryanair's monthly figures, in February.

Ryanair carried 1.87m passengers against easyJet's 1.86m. But easyJet planes are flying 89% full against Ryanair's 77%. Both are leaving British Airways in their slipstream. In Britain and Europe, BA carried 1.71 m people and its aircraft were 61% full.