UK. London Heathrow Airport handled a record 6.76 million passengers in June, a +2.3% rise year-on-year. The figure boosted the number of passengers travelling through the UK hub in a 12-month period to 77 million for the first time in Heathrow’s history. The airport also had its busiest day ever on 30 June, with 259,917 passengers.
Long-haul markets remained strong in the month with passenger numbers to the Middle East and East Asia growing by almost +10% and more than +5% respectively. Airlines on these routes are switching to larger aircraft and increasing their load factors, noted Heathrow. Travel to regional UK destinations also grew, with FlyBe increasing its domestic share and flying 22,000 more passengers to Scottish destinations this month.
In other news, a new train service will serve Heathrow T5 from 2019 with the opening of the Elizabeth Line.
Heathrow said: “This moves the airport closer to its goal of 50% of passengers travelling by sustainable transport and cuts journey times to locations across London including Bond Street, which will be 27 minutes away, and Canary Wharf, which will be less than 40 minutes away. This month, the Heathrow Express also celebrated a key milestone: 100 million passengers served since 1998.”
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said: “Our record breaking year, month and day figures show Heathrow continues to be the trade and tourist gateway to all of the UK. To keep Britain competitive, we need expansion to build more connections for British passengers and exporters and we are glad to see the government pushing forward on the next stages of the delivery. Together we are showing the world the UK remains open for business.”
