Heathrow has warned it is falling behind European rivals in direct flights to growth markets despite an increase in revenues and a jump in passenger numbers for 2014.
Turnover for the year ending December 31 2014 was £2.69 billion, an increase of 8.8 per cent from the previous year and EBITDA was up by 10.3 per cent - rising from £1.42 billion to £1.57 billion.
In its annual results the airport showed it had its busiest year with 73.4 million passengers served, up 1.4 per cent from 2013, “but with no real growth in flights”.
It put the lack of flight growth down to being at full capacity.
In a statement the airport said: "With Heathrow full, Britain is falling behind in direct flights to growth markets – that’s why calls for Heathrow expansion are growing from all parts of the UK".
Heathrow operates at around 98 per cent capacity and is battling against Gatwick for expansion, which it said is needed if Britain is going to compete with other countries “in the race for growth”.
Last month, Gatwick airport’s biggest operator Easyjet came out in support of Heathrow over expansion.