Heathrow airport has reported its busiest first half ever, seeing 38.1 million passengers so far this year.
Traffic is up 2.5 per cent year on year, with growth seen across all markets served by the airport.
New routes to China also helped a 2.2 per cent increase in cargo to 841,449 tonnes.
The growth in traffic has boosted Heathrow’s financial results, with a 4.8 per cent increase in retail spend by passengers leading to a 2.3 per cent increase in overall revenues to £1.4 billion.
Heathrow says it saw a slight increase in operating costs following investments in improving the airport’s security and service offering.
It has been given a ‘good’ accessibility rating and is currently testing new scanning technology at security checkpoints that could eventually eliminate the need for passengers to remove items such as liquids and laptops from their hand luggage.
Heathrow has raised nearly £1 billion this year to invest in its infrastructure and has invested nearly £6 million to install more than 116 electric car charging points, with another 11 planned for the second half of the year.
The airport is preparing for expansion after MPs voted to approve plans to build a third runway at the London hub. It recently completed the first round of a request for proposals on building infrastructure for the new runway and will release a shortlist of potential partners for the project in late August.
heathrow.com