Heathrow is forecasting 84.2 million pax in 2025.

Heathrow has hit a new annual passenger (pax) record of 83.9 million in 2024 representing a 3 million uplift on the previous record achieved before the pandemic (in 2019).

The result follows the busiest December ever for the UK hub with more than seven million pax travelling though the airport, spurred by Christmas and the New Year traffic.

“2024 was an exciting and a record-breaking year at Heathrow – I’m proud of all my colleagues and our partners who worked so hard to deliver great experiences for more passengers than ever before,” said Heathrow’s CEO Thomas Woldbye.

“In 2025, our journey towards better value for our customers will continue by investing in the kind of facilities our passengers and airlines are looking for.

“We aim to become more innovative to ensure that our airport delivers for the whole of the UK.”

On what is normally one of the quietest days for travel, Christmas Day saw a record 160,000 passengers pass through Heathrow – a 13% increase on the previous record in 2023.

Source: Heathrow.

New York, LA, Dublin and Madrid were among the top destinations in 2024 for Heathrow passengers.

To keep pace with the rapid traffic growth, millions of pounds were invested in 2024 to upgrades security lanes and resurface the southern runway, which Heathrow says had ‘no impact to operations despite it being the busiest ever summer’.

A significant 92% of passengers pass through security in less than five minutes, according to the hub.

Source: Heathrow.

Holiday bookings are off to a strong start in 2025 and Heathrow is forecasting 84.2 million passengers over the full year.

The airport will be funnelling an investment of over £1 billion into upgrades this year.

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