Heathrow Airport is expecting its busiest ever festive period this year, with Christmas Day passenger numbers more than 20 per cent ahead of last year.
Britain’s busiest airport saw 141,000 passengers travel through its terminals on 25 December and it expects this to balloon to ‘around 170,000’ passengers this year.
Heathrow said on Tuesday it served 6.5million passengers for its busiest ever November, with routes to Singapore, Edinburgh, Lisbon, Abu Dhabi, Chicago, Zurich, Mumbai and Paris proving popular.
The eight cities joined Heathrow’s ‘millionaire club’ last month after exceeding one million passengers since the start of the year.
Heathrow thinks it will hit 25 millionaire club routes this year, up from 24 last year.
Asian and Pacific routes saw the strongest growth last month compared with December last year, up 11.4 per cent to almost 11.7million, followed by internal UK flights at 9.8 per cent and EU routes at 8.1 per cent.
Britain’s busiest airport has prepared ‘festive activities’ for travellers in December
African routes were the only geography in decline, falling 7.5 per cent to around 3.3million passengers.
Heathrow has also already surpassed 2023’s cargo volumes by 11 per cent, which it pinned on ‘greater belly hold cargo capacity’ on passenger aircraft and stronger overall demand market.
The airport has prepared ‘festive activities’ for what it anticipates will be its busiest ever December, including meet-and-greets with Santa Claus, ‘Bjorn the polar bear’, and decorations.
Thomas Woldbye, Heathrow chief executive, said: ‘This year has been all about providing high levels of service for record amounts of passengers at Heathrow, and November was no different.
‘As we embrace the festive season, our focus remains on ensuring smooth, joyful journeys-whether it is helping passengers get away for Christmas to reunite with their loved ones, or making sure cargo reaches its destination on time.
‘Make sure to look out for our exciting seasonal surprises throughout the terminals, as we aim to make this holiday season magical for those travelling through Heathrow.’
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