 The majority of all passengers travelling by air to or from the UK are carried by UK airlines , of which there are around forty , and at the end of 2006 the UK air transport fleet numbered 963 aircraft , flying just under 1 @.@ 2 million flights and averaging over eight hours of flying daily . Together the two largest airlines as measured by passenger numbers ; British Airways and easyJet , account for nearly half of the 127 million passengers flown on UK airlines . In terms of capacity , both available and used , British Airways is again the largest airline , whilst easyJet is pushed into third place by Virgin Atlantic Airways . British Airways passenger flights also account for over 50 per cent of all cargo carried by UK airlines , and when combined with its cargo operations the airline carries over 60 per cent of all cargo carried by UK airlines . 
