London Heathrow has continued to see strong demand to key business hubs in North America, India and the Middle East.
The UK’s hub airport’s latest traffic figures for February showed a 1.5 per cent year-on-year reduction in passenger numbers to 5.7 million. But the airport said this fall was because of the extra “leap day” during February 2024.
Heathrow said last month was its busiest February “on record” when adjusted for leap years, with traffic to the US and Canada rising by 3.5 per cent year-on-year to 1.16 million passengers.
Meanwhile routes to global business hubs such as Delhi and Mumbai in India, and Dubai and Riyadh in the Middle East were “consistently taking off with the fewest empty seats”.
Heathrow again stressed the work it is doing to reduce its environment impact. The airport’s sustainability report, which was published last week, highlighted a 7.5 per cent CO2 reduction from flights and a 15 per cent drop in carbon emissions from its ground operations since 2019.
The privately owned airport has also been boosted by the UK government’s decision in January to back a third runway, although airlines and business travel groups fear the expansion could lead to higher airport charges and fares for passengers flying from Heathrow.
Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye said: “Even during a traditionally quiet month for aviation in February, we saw sustained and growing demand to fly and export through Heathrow. As the UK’s gateway to growth, we must meet this increase in demand and do it without compromising our strategy to decarbonise and reduce noise impacts.
“While we welcome the progress that’s been achieved alongside our partners, there’s no complacency – reaching net zero as we grow remains vital.”