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London Heathrow Airport has become the first major European hub to welcome more than eight million passengers in a single month. But while August marked a historic surge in traffic, the UK’s busiest airport says the passenger experience has never been smoother.
Despite record-breaking numbers, Heathrow reports that 96 per cent of travellers cleared security in under five minutes, up from about 92 per cent in 2023 and 69.4 per cent in 2022.
Meanwhile, 98 per cent of bags arrived on time with their owners, a rate Heathrow has at least sustained for the past decade.
The airport says reliability has improved, too. On-the-day cancellations fell by more than a third compared with last year, while instances of passengers arriving without their luggage dropped by 42 per cent compared to last year.
Terminal 5 alone processed over 112,000 travellers on 22 August, its busiest single day ever. Across the airport, punctuality reached record levels, making this Heathrow’s most on-time August yet.
Heathrow remains Europe’s busiest hub
Heathrow ended 2024 as Europe’s busiest airport, serving nearly 84 million passengers, about four million more than Istanbul, the second-busiest.
Passenger numbers across the continent are still climbing, too. According to airport trade body ACI EUROPE, traffic rose by 3.1 per cent in July compared with the year before.
CEO Thomas Woldbye credited the airport’s performance last month to a “collective effort” by staff and airline partners.
“August is set to go down in the history books,” he said. “We achieved [the 8 million passenger milestone] whilst maintaining industry-leading punctuality and service levels.”
While London Heathrow’s August set records, the airport is already operating at full capacity, which it says could limit future growth.
Heathrow has submitted plans for airport-wide upgrades. Those include a €56 billion, privately financed third runway that could be operational within a decade, pending government approval, as well as redesigned and expanded terminals. The plans also call for AI tools to improve punctuality.
The new additions could allow for 276,000 more flights each year and increase capacity by about 50 per cent.
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