London Heathrow catered for 37.1 million passengers during the first six months of 2023 – just 1.7 million below traffic levels for the same period of 2019 - as the airport insists it is "ready" for the summer peak travel season.
The UK hub’s passenger numbers reached 7 million in June – up by 17.5 per cent on June 2022’s figures and only just behind June 2019’s traffic of 7.2 million passengers.
Over the past 12 months between July 2022 and June 2023, Heathrow’s passenger numbers reached 72.6 million, which was an increase of 74.5 per cent on the preceding 12-month period, although still 8.2 million passengers below pre-Covid levels.
Heathrow said transatlantic travel has “continued to drive passenger numbers” this year, with North American traffic rising by nearly 50 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2023 to reach 9.3 million passengers.
Traffic to EU destinations has risen by a more modest 34 per cent over the same period to 12.2 million between January and June.
The airport has insisted that it is “ready” for the peak summer getaway period, despite warnings by air traffic control body Eurocontrol that strikes around Europe could cause major disruption.
Heathrow said its service levels so far this summer have been “very high”, with average security queues of under five minutes across its terminals. The airport has been boosted by the settling of a long-running pay dispute with security workers last month.
John Holland Kaye, the airport’s outgoing CEO, added: “I am very proud of the way that everyone at Heathrow has been working together to deliver excellent service at our busiest time of year.”