Coronavirus: Airports 'at risk' of closure as flights drop 90%

Published 21 April, 2020

In April 2020 the BBC England Data Unit and the BBC Shared Data Unit reported experts warning some airports were "at risk" of closure because of the loss of business during the coronavirus pandemic.

Nine out of 10 flights had been grounded since the UK went into lockdown, analysis showed.

Airports said cargo flights were running and shareholders were being supportive as they worked to cut costs.

Flight tracking website Flightradar24 recorded just 711 departures from the UK's 10 biggest airports last week.

This compared with 7,865 in the week up to the UK's lockdown.

The Shared Data Unit makes data journalism available to news organisations across the media industry, as part of a partnership between the BBC and the News Media Association. Stories generated by the partnership included:

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You can find all coronavirus-related stories by the BBC data units tagged 'coronavirus' here