Heathrow has busiest ever departures day
Heathrow Airport had its 17th consecutive record month, with 6.5 million passengers in March, up 5.5% on March 2017, with the Easter getaway (coupled with half term) leading to the airport having its busiest departures day ever, with over 136,000 departing passengers travelling on the 30th of March.
Courtesy Heathrow Airport
Long-haul, emerging destinations were some of the best performers, as the airport reported double-digit growth in African (12%) and Middle Eastern markets (11%). Latin America also experienced significant growth, up 7.3%.
Cargo volumes increased by 1.5%, with the airport reporting the 20th consecutive record month. During the course of the month, over 150,000 tonnes of cargo travelled through the airport. The USA (1,659t) and Japan (682t) were among the fastest growing markets for cargo.
March was also an award-winning month, as Heathrow’s Terminal 2 beat international counterparts to win ‘World’s Best Airport Terminal’ for the first time in the 2018 Skytrax World Airport Awards.
New routes launched by Hainan Airlines and Tianjin Airlines provided the UK’s first direct connections to the growing cities of Changsha and X’ian. Qantas also began its first direct service to Perth from Heathrow – offering the fastest route to Australia for both UK cargo and passengers.
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said: “We are delighted that passengers have rated us one of the top 10 airports worldwide, recognising the huge improvements in service we have made over the last few years.”