Bigger, fuller aircraft lead to rise in Heathrow passenger numbers
Heathrow handled 4.85 million passengers in February, a record for the month and up 1% on February 2012. Adjusting for the fact that 2012 was a leap year, traffic was up 4.6%.
However, chief executive Colin Matthews said the rise was due to airlines operating larger, fuller aircraft rather than the launch of flights to new destinations.
The airport said BA’s acquisition of bmi contributed to the rise, which was driven by a 1.8% growth in the average number of seats per aircraft to 198.4 seats, and a 2.4 percentage point increase in load factor to 69.6%.
European traffic was up 4.4%. Italy was up 11.6%, Portugal up 9%, Germany was up 8.2% and Greece was down 7.4%.
Of the (emerging) BRIC economies, traffic was up 29.8% for China, 4.1% for India and 3.1% for Russia. The only reduction was an 8.3% drop in traffic with Brazil, resulting in an overall increase in BRIC traffic of 5.1%.
Middle Eastern traffic also performed strongly overall, up 6.2% on the same month last year. Traffic was down to North America (1.9%), Latin America (4.6%) and Africa (11.7%).
Matthews said:"This month’s figures reflect larger, fuller aircraft being used at Heathrow, not the addition of new routes to emerging economies which are so vital to UK trade, jobs and economic growth."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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