Statistics relating to passenger arrivals since the COVID-19 outbreak, February 2021
Published 25 February 2021
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-relating-to-passenger-arrivals-since-the-covid-19-outbreak-february-2021/statistics-relating-to-passenger-arrivals-since-the-covid-19-outbreak-february-2021
1. Passenger arrivals
This release presents experimental statistics on passenger arrivals throughout 2020 and January 2021, including the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. More information on the data sources and limitations can be found in the ‘about the data’ section.
The Home Office publishes data on the total number of passenger arrivals to the UK in the Immigration Statistics. However, this does not include detailed breakdowns (such as nationality or route) for arriving passengers. The data published here is not directly comparable with the passenger arrivals data in the Immigration Statistics, as it comes from different sources. Further work is underway to investigate the quality of other data sources for producing estimates of UK arrivals.
2. Key findings
There were around 630,000 air passenger arrivals to the UK in January 2021 (from API data). This was higher than the monthly average for April to June 2020, immediately following the start of the first UK lockdown, when there were less than 200,000 air arrivals per month. Following slight increases in arrival numbers in summer 2020, January 2021 was the lowest number of arrivals in a single month since June 2020 (194,900 arrivals), which is likely explained by a combination of tightening restrictions towards the end of 2020 and typical seasonal patterns in arrivals which tend to be lower in winter months. The numbers in every month since April 2020 remain substantially lower than levels seen prior to the COVID-19 outbreak in the UK and the figure for January 2021 is around 91% lower than the figure for January 2020, when there were 7.1 million arrivals.
2.1 Chart 1: Weekly air passenger arrivals to the UK, Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 vs Jan 2019 – Jan 2020
This chart shows the number of air passenger arrivals to the UK each week. Around the time of the first UK lockdown (announced 23 March 2020), air passenger arrivals to the UK fell significantly. Since then, arrivals have remained notably lower than the same period in 2019, although numbers rose between July and late August 2020 and have fallen slightly since.
Source: Air passenger arrivals data tables
The charts show the key dates which are likely to have had an impact on passenger arrivals to the UK, either through restrictions on travel, or requirements in place for those who do travel.
- 23 March 2020: UK first lockdown announced.
- 08 June 2020: Health measures introduced at the border. This relates to a series of measures that are designed to prevent new cases of Covid-19 being brought in from abroad.
- 10 July 2020: International Travel Corridors introduced. Passengers arriving from specific countries will not need to self-isolate when arriving in England.
- 05 November 2020: Second national lockdown in England starts.
- 05 January 2021: Third national lockdown in England starts.
- 18 January 2021: Travellers from abroad must have proof of a negative Covid-19 test. International Travel Corridors suspended, meaning all travellers from outside the UK, Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man will need to self-isolate for 10 days after arriving in the UK.
Additional contributing factors could be the individual restrictions imposed by each of the devolved administrations and travel bans to the UK from certain countries.
Typically, around half of air passenger arrivals in the UK are British nationals (although this can fluctuate from week to week), however this proportion rose to around two-thirds in the weeks immediately prior to and after the first UK lockdown began, when air passenger arrivals began to fall. Between May and early July 2020, British nationals accounted for 30-40% of arrivals, and then increased significantly to 57% for August 2020. This proportion has fallen since and was noticeably lower in January 2021 (32%) compared to January 2020 (41%) and January 2019 (46%). The other arrivals will include foreign nationals who are UK residents returning to the UK, non-British dependants of UK residents, and other non-British nationals including those who are visiting or working in the UK.
2.2 Chart 2: Weekly air passenger arrivals to the UK, by nationality, Jan 2020 – Jan 2021
This chart shows the number of air passenger arrivals to the UK each week. Around the time of the first UK lockdown, air passenger arrivals to the UK fell significantly. The proportion of arrivals that were British nationals rose slightly in the weeks immediately before and after the UK lockdown was announced (23 March 2020). The number and proportion of arrivals from British nationals increased from early July to late August, but have decreased since.
Source: Air passenger arrivals data tables
2.3 Table 1: Passengers arriving to the UK by air
| Air arrivals | % of whom: British nationals | % change in total arrivals compared with same month in previous year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 2020 | 7,082,000 | 41% | +1% |
| February 20201 | 6,804,900 | 51% | -2% |
| March 2020 | 3,815,300 | 58% | -51% |
| April 2020 | 112,300 | 56% | -99% |
| May 2020 | 139,300 | 36% | -99% |
| June 2020 | 194,900 | 34% | -98% |
| July 2020 | 1,260,400 | 49% | -89% |
| August 2020 | 3,106,500 | 57% | -74% |
| September 2020 | 2,757,700 | 53% | -75% |
| October 2020 | 1,741,100 | 53% | -82% |
| November 2020 | 690,600 | 46% | -90% |
| December 2020 | 895,000 | 44% | -88% |
| January 2021 | 631,500 | 32% | -91% |
Source: Air passenger arrivals data tables
2.4 Notes
- In order to ensure the February 2020 comparison with the previous year compares the same number of days, arrivals on the 29 February 2020 are excluded from the ‘% change with the same month in previous year’ column but are included in the total number of arrivals for that month.
- Totals in the table may not equal the sum of individual days as provided in the accompanying air passenger arrivals data. This is due to rounding.
Additional data drawn from Border and Immigration Transactions data (BITD) can be used to illustrate the proportion of arrivals through the air, sea and rail routes – although numbers of transactions will not accurately reflect the number of individuals arriving due to the way in which systems operate at the border.
The border data shows that passengers arriving by air accounted for more than 80% of arrivals in 2019, and 87% of all passenger arrivals to the UK in March 2020. Following the introduction of the first UK lockdown this proportion reduced to 38% in May 2020, as air arrivals fell more sharply than rail and sea arrivals. The number of air passenger arrivals then increased and represented 85% of all arrivals in September 2020, although the total number of arrivals remained far below pre-pandemic levels. Since then, air passenger arrivals have decreased and in January 2021, accounted for 73% of all arrivals (BITD data).
2.5 Chart 3: Monthly arrivals, by percentage arriving by air, sea and rail, pre-April 2020 1 and April 2020 to January 2021
Source: BITD data
The number of arrivals across all routes (air, rail and sea) from April 2020 were considerably lower than the same period in the previous year. The falls were largest in April and May around the time of the first lockdown in the UK (all routes had reduced by 87-99% in April). The number of arrivals were higher over the summer months but decreased again subsequently. In the latest month, January 2021, air arrivals stood at around 9%, rail arrivals around 20% and sea arrivals 27% of their January 2020 levels. Although part of this may be down to usual seasonal patterns in arrivals, with more people coming to the UK in summer months by air, the tightening of restrictions towards the end of 2020 will have also had a further impact on arrival numbers.
2.6 Table 2: Percentage change in arrivals for April 2020 to January 2021 compared with same period in previous year, by route
| Month | Air arrivals | Sea arrivals | Rail arrivals |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2020 | -99% | -87% | -94% |
| May 2020 | -99% | -81% | -89% |
| June 2020 | -98% | -77% | -84% |
| July 2020 | -90% | -69% | -65% |
| August 2020 | -76% | -65% | -50% |
| September 2020 | -76% | -66% | -66% |
| October 2020 | -84% | -70% | -77% |
| November 2020 | -91% | -51% | -79% |
| December 2020 | -89% | -61% | -76% |
| January 2021 | -91% | -73% | -80% |
Source: BITD data
3. About the data
Data on passenger arrivals are derived from live operational systems; Advance Passenger Information (API), and Border and Immigration Transaction Data (BITD). These data are not designed for statistical purposes, there are known issues in producing estimates of arrivals from these sources and the data sources are not directly comparable.
API data primarily relate to passengers coming to the UK via commercial aviation routes. The data do not include those arriving by sea or rail routes, by private aircraft or via the Common Travel Area (CTA). Figures for more recent periods in particular, may also be subject to revision.
BITD data relate to those coming to the UK on air, sea, and rail routes, but does not include those coming via the CTA. As the system was not designed for statistical purposes, the data should be considered indicative. Some passengers will be counted multiple times in the data where more than one interaction has occurred. Data from March 2020 is the earliest available for reporting purposes. The impact of COVID-19 will affect March 2020 data to some degree.
Data from the API on the number of passengers arriving by air are published in the accompanying air passenger arrivals data tables.