Research and analysis
UK aviation forecast 2026
2026 forecasts for air passengers, aircraft movements and CO2 emissions for UK airports.
Documents
PDF, 2.15 MB, 114 pages
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ODS, 337 KB
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ODS, 34.1 MB
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Details
This document sets out the Department for Transport (DfT) 2026 forecasts for air passengers, aircraft movements and CO2 emissions for UK airports. DfT’s forecasts are a long-term strategic look at UK aviation and are used for the following purposes:
- informing future aviation strategy and policy, including aviation decarbonisation
- informing national aviation policy, e.g. on airport expansion
- feeding into other government departments and the wider aviation sector
The set of forecasts presented in this document are an update to the forecasts published in 2017.
Additionally, in 2022 DfT published the Jet Zero emission forecasts and illustrative scenarios as part of the Jet Zero strategy are reproduced.
This document is designed to sit alongside the aviation modelling framework which explains how the DfT aviation model works.
See the data tables for further detailed information supporting the 2026 UK aviation forecast.
If you have any questions or would like to request additional data, contact the DfT aviation forecast team at aviation.forecasts@dft.gov.uk.
Updates to this page
Published 18 June 2026