London Heathrow calls for ‘focus’ on growing aviation

London Heathrow airport has called for the new UK government to “focus” on growing aviation and helping the sector to decarbonise.

The UK hub made the plea to the Labour administration, which took power in July, as it released more record-setting figures for October when traffic reached 7.2 million passengers.

“Heathrow calls for a specific focus on supporting the growth of aviation and backing efforts to decarbonise – no other sector can truly open global opportunities for UK businesses at the pace needed to help deliver the government’s economic growth mission,” said the airport in a statement.

The airport’s traffic was boosted last month by the school half-term holidays, with passenger numbers rising by 3.7 per cent compared with the same month in 2023.

Heathrow said it had enjoyed “sustained demand” throughout the summer, which had continued during the autumn months. Last month, the airport raised its traffic forecast for 2024 up to 83.8 million passengers, which will be a new annual record.

Heathrow’s CEO Thomas Woldbye said: “This year has been all about breaking records at Heathrow. To keep up with growing demand and progress towards our vision of an extraordinary airport fit for the future we are investing more than £1 billion in 2024 alone.

“To maintain that competitive edge, the government needs to recognise aviation’s vital role in enabling and supporting other sectors in its Industrial Strategy.”

Heathrow’s record traffic in 2024 may also revive the debate over the airport’s proposed third runway, which was initially given permission in 2018 but was then mired in legal battles before the Covid-19 pandemic caused a huge plunge in traffic.

In October, the largest increases in Heathrow’s traffic were for domestic UK flights, which rose by 8.9 per cent to 393,000, and services to EU destinations, up by 8.2 per cent year-on-year to 2.5 million during the month.

Other regions saw much lower growth, such as a 2.2 per cent increase for North American traffic, a 1.1 per cent rise for Asia-Pacific destinations, and a 0.2 per cent uptick in passengers to and from the Middle East. Africa was the only region to see a year-on-year decline in passengers, with traffic dropping by 12.8 per cent year-on-year.

Heathrow’s total traffic for the first 10 months of 2024 was 70.3 million passengers, up by 6 per cent on the same period last year, with double-digit growth for both UK domestic flights and the Asia-Pacific region over this period.