Heathrow saw its busiest ever March with a record 5.95 million passengers travelling through the UK’s hub, an increase of 3.4% on March 2014 as the airport benefitted from an earlier Easter travel rush.
Within emerging markets, passenger volumes were particularly strong to Mexico which was up 26.5%, China up 20.2% and the Middle East & Central Asia up 7.6%. North American segments continued their robust performance with volumes increasing 6.0%
Heathrow announced a package of measures which will boost regional connectivity – including a proposed £10 discount on domestic passenger charges and a £10 million route development fund to support five new domestic routes for three years – while encouraging cleaner, quieter aircraft to operate from the UK’s hub.
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said:
“All the growth in the world is in faraway markets like China, Vietnam and Mexico – we can create jobs right across Britain if we make it easy to get there from anywhere in the UK.
This month we have announced measures to help airlines establish services from UK airports to Heathrow, including lower charges for domestic passengers and a route development fund. Along with easyJet’s recent announcement that it plans to operate new domestic routes from Heathrow, this demonstrates our commitment that expanding Heathrow will connect all of Britain to global growth. Now, let’s get on with it.”
