UK. London Heathrow Airport posted a +2% rise in passenger traffic year-on-year in September, with the figure hitting 6.9 million. In the first nine months of 2017, traffic rose by +3.1% to 59 million. The rolling annual total (October 2016 to September 2017) of 77.43 million marks a new high for any 12-month period.
Latin American destinations posted +9.3% growth in traffic compared to last year, following British Airways’ launch of a new route to Santiago, Chile at the beginning of the year. South Asian locations also grew strongly as Air India saw passenger numbers leap by +21%. Regional airline FlyBe added 20,000 extra passengers to its services within the UK in the month.
Earlier this month, Heathrow unveiled a nine-point plan to encourage regional connections to the UK’s hub airport and prepare the economy outside of London for Brexit. As part of that, Heathrow urged the government to scrap domestic Air Passenger Duty on all UK flights after research revealed that UK passengers are paying an extra £225 million in aviation tax on domestic flights compared to many of their European counterparts.
Transport Secretary of State Chris Grayling has said the government is set to give the Heathrow expansion project the formal go-ahead in the first half of 2018.
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said: “September has been another remarkable month for Heathrow, with passenger and cargo volumes hitting new highs.”
