Last month was the busiest August ever for London Heathrow Airport, new figures show.
More than six million passengers (6.6) flew to or from Heathrow in August, up 0.7 per cent on last year. In total 82.2 per cent of all plane seats were filled on all Heathrow flights.
Destinations such as Canada and the USA were the best performing markets for Heathrow, where 71,000 more flights were made compared to August last year. Interestingly, BAA, which manages the airport estimates that the recent travel disruption caused by Hurricane Irene meant that 40,000 fewer passengers travelled through Heathrow.
Flights to Montreal in Canada increased by 50 per cent in August over a year ago, while flights to Detroit, USA, were up by 41.9 per cent for the same period. US airline Delta started flying direct to Detroit from London Heathrow this summer.
At Heathrow, domestic traffic fell by 13.2 per cent, largely as a result of a 16 per cent cut in seating capacity by the airlines. Other long-haul traffic grew by 0.6 per cent and European scheduled traffic was up by 0.3 per cent.
While the August figures for Heathrow are impressive, the airport’s busiest month to date was July (2011) when 6.9 million people flew via the airport. Britain’s biggest airport exceeded more than 68.5 million passengers in the 12 months to July. With the Olympic Games in London next year, passenger figures via Heathrow are set to rocket.
IAG, the parent company of British Airways and Iberia, currently controls 44 per cent of all available landing slots at Heathrow and the group is reportedly keen to expand at the airport by purchasing struggling airline BMI from Lufthansa. Buying the airline would give BA more than 50 per cent of all available take-off and landing slots.
(Image: Rick Payette)
