Heathrow ignores August bank holiday flight chaos as passenger numbers rise
- 7.5 million passengers used its services this August
- The figure is a 22% increase from the August 2022 figure of 6 million.
Heathrow shrugged off flight chaos over the August bank holiday as passenger numbers surged at the same time last year.
The UK’s largest airport revealed that 7.5 million passengers used its services in the month of August.
This is slightly down from the July figure of 7.6 million, but a 25 percent increase from the August 2022 figure of 6 million.
The largest airport in the United Kingdom revealed that 7.5 million passengers used its services in the month of August
In a statement, the airport said: “Passenger satisfaction was higher than before the pandemic, reflecting the investment the airport, airlines and their ground handlers have made in hiring and training more than 25,000 new colleagues in the last two years.
“This additional resilience meant that while flights at Heathrow were affected by UK-wide air traffic restrictions in August, operations quickly returned to normal.
At the end of August, Britain was plunged into getaway chaos as many tried to beat the rush of the bank holiday weekend.
The country endured its busiest day for flight departures in four years, hour-long queues at the port of Dover and huge delays on the M25.
Before the weekend, passengers flying from the South East to mainland Europe also faced cancellations and delays due to bad weather and strikes on the continent.
On Monday, a collapse of the UK’s air traffic control system left many stranded and unable to return to Britain.
Heathrow added: ‘Security wait times averaged just 1.5 minutes in August. Passengers took advantage of the extra time at the airport to stock up on food, as Pret A Manger sold almost 1 million sandwiches this summer. Others indulged in retail therapy to get “beach ready,” selling a pair of sunglasses every two minutes.
‘UK passengers and supply chain have a growing list of destinations to choose from. With the lifting of travel restrictions, Heathrow now has more flights to more destinations in China than any other European hub. LATAM has confirmed that the UK’s only direct service to Peru will take off from Heathrow on December 1.
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: “I am very proud of the way colleagues in the Heathrow team ensured passengers had a great start to their summer holidays, with record levels of customer satisfaction. passengers and average security queue times of less than two minutes. Heathrow is back to its best.’
Last week, Britain’s competition body conditionally backed the aviation regulator’s controversial rules on Heathrow Airport’s airline fare structure.
The Competition and Markets Authority said the Civil Aviation Authority was “not wrong in the majority” of decisions that were the subject of appeals by Heathrow and airlines British Airways, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic.
But the CMA sided with the airlines on “one small element” relating to the potential impact of “exceptional events” on passenger volumes and a “relatively minor aspect” of the CAA’s cost of debt calculation.
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