London Heathrow Airport saw its passenger numbers drop by 1.2 per cent year-on-year during May, as traffic to the Middle East slumped by 31.1 per cent.
The UK hub airport catered for 7.1 million passengers last month, with the traffic boost from the half-term school holiday being more than offset by the reduction in flights to the Middle East due to the ongoing conflict in the region.
Despite the overall traffic drop during the month, Heathrow still experienced its busiest ever May day when 262,000 passengers used the airport on 22 May.
Traffic from Heathrow to most regions was up year-on-year, including a 5.7 per cent rise in passengers to Africa, a 2.8 increase to Asia Pacific and a 2.1 per cent uptick to destinations in the EU. Although, domestic UK traffic dropped 1.9 per cent compared with May 2025.
Despite the impact of the Iran war, Heathrow’s traffic rose by 0.7 per cent year-on-year during the first five months of 2026 to reach 32.8 million passengers.
Another major European hub, Frankfurt Airport, recorded a 2.7 per cent rise in passenger numbers in May as traffic increased to 5.7 million, thanks to increases to Southern Europe, as well as long-haul growth to destinations in Asia, Africa and Latin America.