Heathrow set another record for passenger numbers in May despite the disruption caused by a British Airways flight having to make an emergency landing.
The incident on May 24 led to both runways at Heathrow being closed, causing a reduction in the number of flights using the airport on that day as well as a backlog during the following weekend.
But despite this disruption, Heathrow saw its traffic for May grow by 4.7 per cent to 6.1 million for the month. The airport was boosted by a 3.6 per cent rise in transatlantic traffic and a 6.9 per cent increase in short-haul European passengers.
Traffic was also up on routes to the BRIC countries – particularly India and China which saw growth of 17.7 per cent and 13.7 per cent respectively in May compared to the same month in 2012.
Heathrow chief executive Colin Matthews said: “May saw another rise in the number of passengers travelling through Heathrow. More and more of them are being carried by newer, quieter aircraft which we incentivise to use the airport.”
Gatwick also saw an increase in passengers during May – up by 7.8 per cent to 3.2 million – which the airport said was mainly down to an earlier half-term school holiday than in 2012.
The Sussex airport saw growth of 6.6 per cent for its long-haul services, despite the loss of US Airways routes following the airline’s decision to stop flying from Gatwick. The long-haul increase was due to 23 per cent higher traffic to Africa and the Middle East.
Gatwick’s chief financial officer Nick Dunn said: “While May has seen good growth in passenger numbers at Gatwick, this can be linked in the most part to the half-term holiday being in May this year rather than June and poor weather in the UK. June traffic growth month-to-date has been more subdued, returning to underlying trend.
“Gatwick is pleased to see continued growth of routes to key emerging markets, including increased services to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines this month. This builds on other successful services to key destinations such as Moscow with Easyjet, which attracted around 15,000 extra passengers to Gatwick in May.”