Heathrow on track for busiest year after record February

Traffic numbers at Heathrow rose to record highs in February with the airport handling two million passengers during its busiest-ever winter half-term season.

Some 5.8m passengers travelled through the UK's largest airport last month, helped by an additional leap year day which saw an additional 207,000 customers.

That was up 11.6% from the 5.2m passengers seen in February 2023 and also ahead of the 5.5m recorded in February 2019 pre-pandemic.

Passenger numbers across January and February combined were up 10.4% on the previous year and the airport said it is now in track to serve more passengers in 2024 than any year before.

Meanwhile, cargo tonnage was up 21% year-on-year, which Heathrow said outperformed the global average increase of 8%.

“It was wonderful to welcome so many passengers for the first holiday peak of 2024, setting a new Heathrow record," said chief executive Thomas Woldbye.

However, Woldbye continues to use the monthly traffic reports as a vehicle to call on the government to do more to encourage foreign visitors to the UK, following the introduction of a so-called tourist tax in 2021 – with the scrapping of tax-free shopping for international consumers. Up until 2021, non-EU visitors were able to claw back a 20% VAT refund on their goods when shopping in the UK.

The chief executive said chancellor Jeremy Hunt was prioritising short-term decisions over policies that would help drive economic growth, adding: "Instead, he raised taxes on aviation with no ring-fencing for the green transition."

"While we are serving more people, visitors to the UK are spending less since the removal of tax-free shopping, impacting businesses across the country. The Spring Budget was a missed opportunity to give the whole tourism, hospitality and retail sector the support it needs to compete internationally," Woldbye said.