Member Article

Heathrow reports record passenger levels

Heathrow airport experienced record passenger numbers in December, up 2% in comparison to the same period in 2011.

The number of passengers through the airport came to almost 70 million for the year, to give an increase of 0.9% against the previous year.

Traffic across the North Atlantic yielded the most significant rises, with a 3.2% increase across 12 months, while more flights to Brazil resulted in a 21.6% rise in the airport’s performance to the region.

Recovery in the Middle Eastern and central Asian markets caused a 3.4% improvement, while traffic to East Asia rose by 6.2%, which Heathrow attributed to a recovery from the 2011 tsunami in Japan.

Marginal increases were seen in the European market, up 0.5%, while variances between different European countries mirrored their economic climates.

Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece suffered a collective 4.5% drop over the past year, with Greece experiencing the most significant fall of 7.3%.

Traffic to Germany offset these figures, up 2.3%, while improvements of 0.6% in France and a 0.5% rise in domestic traffic also buoyed results.

Flights to emerging “BRIC” markets were all up in December, excluding Brazil which saw a fall of 3.1%, while China (up 23.2%), India (up 4%) and Russia (up 3.4%) all fared well.

The number of cargo flights over December was down by 3.5%, reflecting last week’s production statistics, while this figure dropped by 1.3% for the whole year.

Heathrow said the year was “characterised” by higher loads on flights, with more seats per flight and average flight capacities at 75.6%, in comparison with 75.2% in 2011.

The airport said these factors were the most important contributors to growth because of a cap on the number of flights at 480,000 allowed, which Heathrow nearly met with a total of 471,341 flights for the year.

Chief Executive for Heathrow, Colin Matthews, said: “The figures for 2012 show Heathrow is delivering higher passenger numbers despite a tough economic climate.

“At the same time passenger satisfaction reached record levels.Over the next twelve months we will continue to improve the passenger experience and focus on our investment programme, as we move towards completion of the new Terminal 2.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .