Aviation

In 2024, almost half of adults (49%) said they had taken at least one flight for leisure in the last 12 months. This percentage has been increasing since 2022 (38%), but it continues to be lower than 2019 (53%). [Table 37a and Figure 18]

A line chart showing the percentage of adults taking flights for leisure. This had been increasing 2012 to 2019, dropped in 2022 after the COVID-19 pandemic and had recovered to 49% by 2024.
Figure 18: Percentage of adults taking flights for leisure, 2012 to 2024

Flights taken for business remained lower than in the period 2009 to 2019. In 2024, 6% of adults had taken a flight for business compared to 8% in 2019. [Table 38a]

Flights to Europe were most common amongst those flying for leisure (82% of those that flew for leisure flew to Europe at least once). For business flyers, flights to the rest of the UK were most common (62% flew at least once to the rest of the UK).[Tables 37b, 38b]

By far the two most common reasons people gave for flying within the UK over other forms of transport was that it was quicker (78%) and cheaper (37%). [Table 39]