Heathrow welcomed more passengers in July 2011 than in any previous month

Heathrow handled a record 6.9 million passengers (up 2.5% on last year) in July.

The airport saw its busiest day on record on Sunday 31 July, and seven of Heathrow’s top ten days for passenger numbers were recorded during the month. Furthermore, at 84.7%, the proportion of available aircraft seats filled was the most efficient ever achieved.

The total number of passengers at Heathrow during the last 12 months exceeded 68.5 million for the first time.

BAA’s six airports handled 11 million passengers in July, an increase of 0.8% on July 2010. Across the Group, the strongest performing market was North America, with passenger numbers up 5.6% on last July. Other long-haul routes recorded a collective increase of 3.9% and European scheduled services rose by 0.9%. In contrast, there was a 7.2% drop in domestic traffic.

At Heathrow alone, the drop in domestic traffic was 13.3% as carriers reduced seat capacity by 16.0%. However, increases in North Atlantic (up 5.3%), other long-haul (up 3.2%) and European scheduled (up 3.1%) markets more than compensated for this reduction. The most notable individual country market was Brazil, which experienced an 80.0% year-on-year increase in passengers travelling to and from the country.

Stansted handled 1.9 million passengers, a drop of 7.2%. It achieved its most efficient ever load factor of 88.5%. In addition, Southampton returned to growth with a 2.4% increase versus July 2010.

All three Scottish airports recorded increases in July, with Edinburgh rising 3.3% to just short of one million passengers. Glasgow was up by 0.5% overall, due largely to a 45.7% increase in traffic on scheduled European services. Aberdeen saw growth in domestic traffic and even faster growth in international traffic, which helped it to reach an overall increase of 8.7%.

Across the Group the number of air transport movements was down by 1.8%, with only Heathrow (up 0.4%) and Aberdeen (up 0.3%) recording increases. Cargo tonnage was also lower across the Group (down 2.3%), reflecting global trends.

Colin Matthews, chief executive of BAA, said: “The growth in passenger traffic at Heathrow in July is good news for UK jobs, tourism and growth. Heathrow’s unique role in linking the UK to the world’s emerging markets is vital to Britain’s economic recovery.

“Heathrow’s performance was also good news for the thousands of families setting off on their summer holiday. To make the busy summer getaway easier for parents we introduced dedicated family lanes at security, children’s play areas in all terminals, and ‘kids eat free’ deals in restaurants.”

Download BAA traffic statistics for July 2011