Heathrow airport hits 8 million passengers in a month

Heathrow handled more than eight million passengers in August for the first time in its history, as Europe’s busiest airport renewed calls for its expansion. The London airport said it was the first European airport to surpass this figure following a busy summer of travel.

Chief executive Thomas Woldbye said August would ‘go down in the history books’ for the record high numbers of travellers. Heathrow reported its busiest ever day on 1 August, with around 270,000 people passing through the travel hub.

The airport said: ‘We eclipsed our previous record departures and arrivals days and Terminal 5 set a new single-day record on 22nd August – successfully welcoming more than 112,000 travellers.’ Growth was largely driven by expansion to Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. Heathrow said 98 per cent of bags travelled on their flights as expected and 96 per cent of passengers waited less than five minutes at security.

It also flagged a decline in the number of flight cancellations on the day of travel, stating they fell a third over the summer, compared with the same period a year ago. But it added that it was ‘now operating at full capacity to the detriment of UK trade and connectivity’, adding that it welcomed the government’s ‘commitment to expanding Heathrow’.

Bosses at the west London airport previously flagged that its two runways were being used at almost full capacity, therefore stifling the ability to grow passenger numbers. Heathrow unveiled plans to build a full-length third runway in August, which it said would enable an additional 276,000 flights per year.

It said the expansion, expected to be operational within a decade, would be privately financed, meaning no taxpayer money would be used, at a cost of £21billion. The expansion plans, which face opposition from campaigners, include proposals for a new terminal and diversion of the M25 requiring a new road tunnel under the airport.

Heathrow potentially faces tens of millions of pounds in costs after a substation fire forced a chaotic shutdown of Britain’s busiest airport in March.