Heathrow prepares for busiest festive period in its history with Christmas Day boom

Heathrow Airport is expecting its busiest festive period ever this year, with Christmas Day passenger numbers more than 20 per cent higher than last year.

Britain’s busiest airport welcomed 141,000 passengers through its terminals on December 25 and this figure is expected to rise to “around 170,000” passengers this year.

Heathrow said on Tuesday it served 6.5 million passengers in its busiest November ever, with routes to Singapore, Edinburgh, Lisbon, Abu Dhabi, Chicago, Zurich, Mumbai and Paris proving popular.

The eight cities joined Heathrow’s ‘millionaires club’ last month after exceeding one million passengers since the beginning of the year.

Heathrow believes it will hit 25 millionaire club routes this year, up from 24 last year.

Asia-Pacific routes saw the biggest growth last month compared to December last year, up 11.4 per cent to almost 11.7 million, followed by UK domestic flights at 9.8 percent and EU routes with 8.1 percent.

African routes were the only geography in decline, falling 7.5 percent to around 3.3 million passengers.

Heathrow has also already exceeded 2023 cargo volumes by 11 per cent, which it attributed to “increased hold cargo capacity” on passenger aircraft and greater overall market demand.

The airport has prepared “holiday activities” for what it anticipates will be the busiest December in its history, including meet-and-greets with Santa Claus, “Bjorn the Polar Bear” and decorations.

Thomas Woldbye, chief executive of Heathrow, said: “This year has been about providing high levels of service for record numbers of passengers at Heathrow, and November was no different.”

‘As we embrace the festive season, our focus remains on ensuring smooth and joyful journeys, whether it’s helping passengers get away at Christmas to reunite with loved ones or ensuring cargo reaches its destination on time.

“Be sure to keep an eye out for our exciting seasonal surprises across all terminals as we aim to make this festive season a magical one for those traveling through Heathrow.”