2016 turned out to be another milestone year for Heathrow Airport. Having celebrated 70 years as one of Britain’s key airports, Heathrow saw a record 76 million passengers, which is an increase of 1% on last year. In addition, there was a 3% increase in cargo, which reached 1.5 million tonnes – equating to an annual cargo equivalent of 118,000 London buses or 30 fully-loaded Queen Elizabeth II ocean liners.
A key driver for this growth in passenger volumes was the introduction of larger, quieter and more efficient aircraft. In 2016, about 40% of Heathrow’s passengers travelled on cleaner and quieter new generation aircraft, including Airbus A380s, A350s and Boeing Dreamliners. This figure is a 25% increase on last year and has helped to reduce the airport’s impact on local communities.
Best December to date
Heathrow announced that this December has been their most successful to date in terms of passenger volumes, setting a 6.2 million passenger record. December figures have shown a 4.4% increase on last year’s record, as emerging markets in the Middle East (+16.9%) and Asia (+3.2%) contributed to growth along with North American segments (+2.1%). Cargo growth was also strong, with an increase of 5.1%. This was driven in particular by growth to emerging market countries such as Brazil (+18.6%), India (12.1%) and China (+8.3%)
Awards
The high customer service standards were recognized at the Skytrax Awards as Heathrow Airport maintains its status as Best airport in Western Europe for a second year running. As well as this, the airport was also awarded with several familiar awards: Best Airport for Shopping for the quality of its shops, restaurants and terminals for seventh year in a row, and World’s Best Airport Terminal for Terminal 5 for the fifth year in a row.
Heathrow also collected two recognitions during the Frontier Awards 2016, which are dedicated to highlighting innovation and excellence within the airport industry.
