Heathrows passenger numbers rise in March
Heathrows passenger numbers continued to climb in March, with over 6.5 million passengers travelling through the airport, making it the 29th consecutive month of record growth for the airport.
Despite ongoing uncertainty around Brexit, the figures reflect that attitudes towards travel remained strong.
Africa performed especially well over the past month, increasing by 6.2% compared to the same time last year. Domestic connections also saw a slight uplift (+0.2%) with British Airways launching its 2nd service to Inverness and Flybe growing their loads by more than a fifth (23%) with an inaugural flight to Cornwall on March 31.
More than 149,000 metric tonnes of cargo travelled through the UK’s biggest port by value.
Both Latin America and Africa saw remarkable double digit growth with the former up 23% on 2018 due to additional services to Brazil and increased volumes to Mexico. Freight to and from Africa grew by 11%, thanks to Virgin’s growth on routes to the continent.
Two of Heathrow’s Terminals made it into the top five globally, with Terminal 5 taking top spot. In addition, Heathrow was voted amongst the world’s top 10 airports overall and won 'Best airport in Western Europe' and 'World’s Best Airport Shopping'.
In March, Heathrow launched the airport’s new Innovation Prize to fund ideas and solutions addressing aviation environmental impact. The prize is sponsored by Heathrow’s new Centre of Excellence for Sustainability, which connects experts and offers Heathrow as a living laboratory to test and develop ideas that encourage sustainable aviation.
Heathrow has also launched their 10th domestic route, which is operated by Flybe and links the hub airport to Cornwall in Newquay for the first time since 1997.
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said: “Despite Brexit uncertainty, Heathrow remains a bright light for the UK, with the role we play in keeping people and products moving evident.
"Our new domestic connections will be pivotal in linking more regions and nations to global opportunities, benefiting all corners of this great country and we look forward to announcing many more of these as part of the expansion programme.”