Heathrow’s punctuality levels also continued to top the league tables, recording its most punctual August ever.

The milestone achievement positions Heathrow as the first major European hub to exceed the eight million mark, which it said cements Heathrow’s critical role as the UK’s gateway to growth.

With record numbers choosing Heathrow this summer, the Uk airport hit its busiest ever day on August 1 with over 270,000 passengers, eclipsing its previous record departures and arrivals days, as Terminal 5 set a new single-day record on August 22 – successfully welcoming more than 112,000 travellers

Despite the unprecedented passenger volumes, Heathrow noted it had experienced its strongest summer yet; last month 98% of bags travelled on their flights as expected and 96% of passengers waited less than five minutes at security.

 On the day cancellations across this summer have decreased by over a third compared with the same time last year and passengers travelling without their bags has reduced by 42 percent YoY.

Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye said: “August is set to go down in the history books – Heathrow became the first European airport to handle over eight million passengers in a single month and we achieved that whilst maintaining industry-leading punctuality and service levels.

This is an outstanding achievement, made possible by the collective efforts of our colleagues, airline partners and the wider airport community who worked as one to deliver excellent service for our passengers and the UK.”

Heathrow added: “As we’re now operating at full capacity to the detriment of UK trade and connectivity, we welcome the Government’s commitment to expanding Heathrow. Earlier this summer we submitted our proposal for a 100% privately financed runway that could be operational within a decade and will support the national mission for economic growth.”

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