Heathrow cashes in on first month of holiday season as passenger numbers rise
Heathrow Airport this morning said it has benefited from fuller planes at the start of the holiday season, pushing passenger numbers up in June.
Britain’s biggest airport said it welcomed 7.25m passengers last month, up 1.7 per cent compared to June 2018. It marks the 32nd straight month of growth.
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Flights to African countries saw double digit growth, up 11.6 per cent on last year. This was down to new routes to Durban and more frequent journeys to Johannesburg in South Africa. The airport also sent bigger aircraft to Nigeria.
North America also proved popular for passengers, with 3.5 per cent growth. New services to Pittsburgh, Charleston and Las Vegas boosted the already busy market.
More than 130,000 metric tonnes of cargo travelled through Heathrow last month. Cargo to the Middle East was up 9.1 per cent and Latin America was up 8.1 per cent.
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: “The UK economy relies on aviation, and our new routes ensure that tourists from all over the world can get to every part of Britain this summer, as well as opening up new trading opportunities.
Growth cannot be at any cost. We welcome the UK’s commitment to net zero carbon by 2050, and are working with industry partners to make sure aviation plays its part as we connect Britain to global growth.”
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Domestic passenger numbers on flights inside Britain increased 1.3 per cent year-on-year. Around 3.5 per cent more passengers flew to North America.
Passengers heading to countries inside the European Union decreased slightly, by 0.7 per cent to 2.53m.
Main image credit: Getty