Business and traffic commentary May 2024

Heathrow

11 June 2024

 

Heathrow breaks 12-month record with 81m passengers choosing the UK's hub airport

§ More people than ever before are choosing to travel through Heathrow. The UK's hub airport served a record-breaking 81.5m passengers in the 12 months to May

§ The milestone was reached as airport teams welcomed 7.2m passengers last month, the first time May traffic has ever exceeded 7m. This summer is expected to see more records broken with an estimated 30m passengers

§ Colleagues have already successfully served record numbers during recent peak periods and passengers can travel with confidence. Among the latest additions in the terminals is the UK's first branch of Jones the Grocer, which opened this week in Terminal 2, serving up freshly-made meals and artisanal produce

§ Terminal 2 - The Queen's Terminal celebrates 10 years of operations this summer. Since opening in 2014 it has seen 148m passengers traveling to more than 30 different countries on over a million flights

§ New research published for the anniversary showed many passengers enjoy a little indulgence at the start of a trip, including cake for breakfast, an impulse gift or a morning tipple. In May alone, sweet-toothed passengers bought 40,000 Toblerones (approx. one every minute), enough to stretch the length of the airport's northern runway

§ While summer is on the horizon, it's not too early to think about winter escapes. British Airways has just announced a new Heathrow route to Tromsø in Norway for Aurora-seekers and Arctic adventurers, as SAS confirms its own new addition to Sälen in Sweden

Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye said:

"We have a winning team at Heathrow which has proven that we have put Covid firmly behind us. Thanks to their extraordinary efforts we are now giving record numbers of people the chance to connect smoothly with the world. Supporting 81m journeys doesn't just help families to make wonderful holiday memories, importantly it is about the vital trade and business links a hub like Heathrow creates for the UK's economy."

Traffic Summary
May 2024
Terminal Passengers (000s)	May 2024	% Change	Jan to May 2024	% Change	Jun 2023 to May 2024	% Change
Market
UK	398	7.4	1,890	10.5	4,422	17.0
EU	2,481	9.0	10,593	7.8	26,924	11.1
Non-EU Europe	455	11.4	2,289	9.8	5,534	13.4
Africa	248	-12.7	1,392	-6.8	3,498	6.5
North America	1,927	2.6	7,658	4.7	20,307	11.7
Latin America	176	4.9	913	5.2	2,110	9.1
Middle East	640	5.6	3,344	8.4	8,277	8.7
Asia / Pacific	852	15.8	4,320	18.4	10,448	36.6
Total	7,176	6.7	32,400	7.9	81,519	13.9
Air Transport Movements	May 2024	% Change	Jan to May 2024	% Change	Jun 2023 to May 2024	% Change
Market
UK	3,179	12.5	15,103	14.4	34,273	16.9
EU	18,135	5.5	82,939	7.4	201,106	9.4
Non-EU Europe	3,401	5.1	17,913	9.2	41,396	11.9
Africa	1,185	-7.7	6,409	-3.6	15,298	5.5
North America	8,324	-0.0	36,469	1.8	91,834	8.4
Latin America	753	2.9	3,923	5.1	8,947	9.0
Middle East	2,636	3.3	12,417	2.5	30,144	7.3
Asia / Pacific	3,549	5.9	17,912	13.8	43,304	26.2
Total	41,162	4.2	193,085	6.8	466,302	11.0
Cargo (Metric Tonnes)	May 2024	% Change	Jan to May 2024	% Change	Jun 2023 to May 2024	% Change
Market
UK	45	148.1	262	24.3	649	58.9
EU	6,651	-14.3	39,728	3.7	97,541	1.2
Non-EU Europe	2,821	-18.3	16,894	6.6	42,035	4.7
Africa	6,975	6.8	37,191	18.1	84,316	13.6
North America	48,328	22.2	241,807	12.3	571,254	6.9
Latin America	4,599	5.2	22,031	10.2	52,844	11.4
Middle East	21,558	0.3	111,731	12.2	273,824	11.6
Asia / Pacific	34,330	17.6	168,945	32.7	398,702	26.7
Total	125,307	11.5	638,589	16.5	1,521,165	12.4

 

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