Heathrow Airport recorded a 2.1% year-on-year decline in passenger numbers in August, despite welcoming almost 272,000 travellers on its busiest day of the year.
The west London airport said 7.87 million passengers travelled through its four terminals during the peak summer getaway month, compared with the same period last year.
August 2 was Heathrow’s busiest day, with nearly 272,000 passengers passing through the airport. However, the overall decline comes after Heathrow was overtaken by Istanbul Airport as Europe’s busiest airport in July.
Heathrow said it continued to hold the title of Europe’s most punctual major airport despite what it described as significant challenges facing the aviation sector.
The airport reported that 98% of passengers waited less than five minutes at security, while 98% saw their bags depart as planned.
“Despite some big challenges across aviation this season, passengers consistently had smooth journeys,” Heathrow said.
The latest figures come as disruption at UK airports has highlighted vulnerabilities in the country’s air traffic control system. A technical problem at National Air Traffic Services (Nats) on Tuesday caused more than 2,000 flights arriving in or departing from the UK to be cancelled.
The disruption continued into Wednesday before services returned to normal during Thursday. Calls have since been made for Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told MPs on Wednesday that she did not believe the air traffic control failure was “unavoidable”.
Heathrow’s passenger data showed that traffic from the UK fell by 1.7% in August, the largest decline among its markets. Passenger numbers from the European Union fell by 0.3%.
Traffic involving the Middle East recorded a much sharper decline, dropping by about one-fifth as the continuing Iran war disrupted travel to and from the region.
Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye used the figures to renew calls for progress on the airport’s proposed third runway, which has received backing from the UK government.
“This summer Heathrow remained Europe’s most punctual hub,” Woldbye said.
He argued that the airport’s capacity constraints were preventing airlines from increasing services to the UK.
“The longest queue at Heathrow is now the one made up of over 40 airlines that want to better connect the UK but can’t secure a slot because our runways are full,” he said.
Woldbye said expansion would create jobs, support economic growth and help reduce travel costs.
Chancellor John Healey told the House of Commons that the government had approved the project because it believed the economic case supported expansion.
A public consultation on the government’s Heathrow expansion national policy statement closed on September 1, marking another step in the process for the proposed third runway.
