Heathrow scores record April after power outage upheaval

•  Around 7.1 million people came through Europe’s busiest airport last month

By HARRY WISE

Updated: 09:40 BST, 12 May 2025

London’s Heathrow Airport bounced back from the major power outage suffered in late March to record its busiest ever April, thanks to bumper Easter holiday demand. 

Around 7.1 million people came through Europe’s busiest airport last month, compared to 6.7 million in April 2024. 

It follows an electrical substation fire – the cause of which is still unknown – that led to a power outage at Heathrow and over 1,300 flight cancellations.

But nearly 1 million passengers flew through the British Airways hub during the most recent Easter weekend, which ran from 18 to 21 April, and included over 140,000 people landing on Easter Monday.

Italian destinations performed exceptionally well, with record demand for Florence and Venice, the airport said.

More than 2.4 million passengers travelled between Heathrow and the European Union, a 4.7 per cent year-on-year rise, while the numbers journeying to or from North America were 5.5 per cent higher at 1.75 million.

Since then, the total number of people flying on the Heathrow-New York JFK route hit the million mark year-to-date in record time.

Flying away: Around 7.1 million people came through London Heathrow Airport last month, compared to 6.7 million in April 2024

Thomas Woldbye, chief executive of Heathrow, said: ‘Last month showed Heathrow at its very best – we successfully navigated our busiest April ever whilst our service levels took a further leap forward.

‘We’re providing great value for our passengers and I’m proud of what we’ve achieved in collaboration with our Team Heathrow partners so far this year.

‘We’re now firmly focused on the busy summer ahead and work is underway across the airport to ensure we continue delivering for our customers.’

Heathrow’s announcement comes a few days after BA revealed it lost £40million from the power outage that hit the airport on 21 March. 

Last week, the UK Government’s National Energy System Operator (NESO) confirmed that electricity was restored to Heathrow just before 11am, but flights did not take off again until about 6pm.

A further report on the matter is expected to be released later this month.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘Air travel appears to have been immune to the trade turmoil unleashed by Trump on Liberation Day, and the sharp falls in stock markets.’

‘Even though it appeared to lead to a fresh crisis of confidence among businesses, it’s done little to dent demand for trips away.’

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Heathrow scores record April after power outage upheaval

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