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Summer getaways drive the busiest ever month at Heathrow

Heathrow Airport enjoyed its busiest ever single month in its history in July after summer travellers and a cargo boom drove another buoyant month at the airport.

According to Heathrow’s own figures, 7.53m passengers passed through the airport last month, representing a 1.2% year-on-year increase and averaging around 243k passengers every day.

The airport recorded similarly booming levels for cargo volumes with 143k tonnes shipped through Heathrow in July, an increase of 15% which the airport is touting as its fastest growth ever recorded.

Underlying the growth was a 44% boost in trade to North America, while well trammelled trade routes to East Asia, including China, Hong Kong and Singapore saw a 14% increase compared to last July.

The figures mark another record breaking month for the airport at a time when all of London’s biggest airports are straining under the weight of increased demand.

Despite this, the prospect of expansion work getting underway at Heathrow still looks far off although the airport did claim that it was making ‘good progress’ working with airlines to meet the congestion, noise pollution and other local requirements that expansion would entail.

Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: “Britain’s global gateway is hard at work this summer holiday season – July was the best month in Heathrow’s history. With more passengers than ever and trade growing at the fastest rate ever recorded, Heathrow is helping Britain show the world our country is open for business.”

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