Heathrow reaches 80 million passenger milestone set to take on 2019 expansion

A record 80 million passengers travelled through the UK’s only hub airport in 2018, up 2.7 per cent on 2017.

Heathrow is one of only seven airports in the world to achieve this milestone.

Over 1.6m metric tonnes of cargo travelled through the UK’s largest port by value in the year - said to be the equivalent of 761 London Eyes, 88 Shard buildings or 32 QE2s.

North American cargo made up over 600,000 metric tonnes, Asia Pacific was second highest with more than 510,000 metric tonnes.

Terminal 2 beat its international counterparts to win ‘World’s Best Airport Terminal’, with Terminal 5 coming in fourth.

In 2018, Heathrow unveiled the airport’s plans for carbon neutral growth, outlining action on four key areas to reduce and offset carbon emissions from the growth in flights that would be created by an additional runway through through investments in peatland restoration and free landing fees for the first electric flight.

6.5 million people travelled through Heathrow in December, as passengers made their way home for the holidays or sought winter sun, and traffic increased by 2.5 per cent.

The regions that saw the most passenger growth were Africa and Latin America, up 9.3 per cent and seven per cent respectively compared to last year.

132,000 metric tonnes of cargo travelled through the airport last month. The standout markets for cargo growth were Brazil, China and Turkey.