New figures show that flights between the UK and US are expected to exceed pre-pandemic levels as people across the States celebrate Independence Day.
There are 152 US-bound flights scheduled to depart from Britain on 4 July, which equates to nearly 40,000 seats, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
This figure is a 21 per cent jump on this time last year, when there were 126 scheduled departures, and a huge rise compared with 2021, when there were only 33 scheduled departures on 4 July – a time when the world was still grappling with Covid-19 travel restrictions.
Today’s insight show that a sense of normality is returning, with the levels of departures up 5 per cent on 4 July 2019, the last year of full travel before the pandemic. Across the whole month, UK to US departures are projected to surpass July 2019 levels by 1 per cent.
Rob Morris, Cirium’s global head of consultancy, told The Independent that “while the weakening pound has supported the growth of this key corridor, with inbound summer travel to the UK now very attractive to US passengers, the appeal of the US has not faded among British travellers”.
“With JetBlue and Norse Atlantic Airways now joining the transatlantic battle, this 4 July holiday will see increasing competition, hopefully – from the passenger perspective – helping drive fares down,” Mr Morris added.
From the UK, New York’s JFK remains the most popular US airport by scheduled flights, followed by Los Angeles, Newark, Boston and Chicago. London Heathrow has by far the highest share of scheduled flights from the UK this month (82 per cent), followed by Gatwick (8 per cent), Edinburgh (5 per cent) and Manchester (4 per cent) – with a total of nine UK airports offering direct flights to the US.
Simon Calder, The Independent’s travel correspondent, said: “Some of the surge in bookings comprises British travellers making up for missed theme-park rides and California fly-drives. But my guess is that the main reason for the increase is Americans flocking back to Europe and finding the UK excellent value.”
However, there’s not much chance of finding a budget flight across the pond – for now.
“Fares across the Atlantic are painfully high: whatever you paid before the pandemic, add at least 50 per cent in summer 2023,” added Mr Calder.
“But airlines are adding capacity, which means that by the autumn many fares will be back to more reasonable levels.”
