Heathrow Airport handled a record 73.4m passengers in calendar year 2014, up 1.4% on 2013.

 

Despite capacity constraints, Heathrow reported that fast-growing emerging markets continued to drive traffic growth, with passenger volumes up 6.3% to Latin America, 5.2% to East Asia and 3.5% to the Middle East & Central Asia.

 

In absolute passenger terms, Europe accounted for 29.9m passengers (+0.2%), followed by North America with 16.9m (+1.7%); Asia Pacific 10.4m (+1.5%); Middle East 6.0m (+3.4%); UK 5.2m (+5.5%); Africa 3.5m (-0.2%); and Latin America 1.1m (+6.3%).

 

The absolute passenger total for the calendar year at Heathrow was 73.375m (+1.4%).

 

Airport management said that growth of 2.5% in transfer passenger volumes attracted more long-haul flights to growth markets like China and Mexico.

 

 

Meanwhile, December was Heathrow’s busiest ever, handling 5.93m passengers – an increase of +2.4% compared with the same month in December 2013.

 

Airport management said: “Larger, quieter aircraft continued to contribute to passenger growth at Heathrow. Seats per aircraft increased 0.6% to 208.4, while load factors remained strong at 76.6%. Passengers per aircraft rose 0.4% to 159.6.

 

“Passenger volumes continued growth within emerging markets, increasing 15.1% to China, 10.9% to Mexico and 4.0% to the Middle East & Central Asia.

 

“Heathrow continued to welcome the transfer passengers that make such long-haul routes viable, with year-on-year volumes increasing 4.7%.”