In its official traffic figures for March 2012, airport operator BAA has revealed that its largest facility, London Heathrow has handled more than 70 million passengers in a rolling 12 month period for the first time ever. The milestone was passed last month when the airport handled 5.7 million passengers, up 6.9 per cent on March 2011.
"Reaching 70 million passengers at Heathrow is a major milestone, demonstrating the resilience of the airport in an otherwise challenging economic environment. Increases in load factors drove this; however Heathrow continues to operate at 99.2% capacity - placing constraints on airlines’ ability to introduce new flights to the emerging economies which are so vital to UK economic growth," said Colin Matthews, Chief Executive Officer, BAA.
Heathrow’s performance was particularly notable for the 4.2 percentage point increase in load factors, to 73.4% compared to March last year, continuing an upward trend over the course of the past year. Traffic from Heathrow to the BRIC countries saw notable growth compared with March last year, with an increase of 62.3% in traffic to and from Brazil.
In the table below, using data from OAG’s Schedules iNet, we highlight the top 25 destinations from the airport last year by seat capacity and compare these destinations with statistics from 20 years earlier.
SCHEDULED AIR SERVICES FROM LONDON HEATHROW (non-stop weekly departures |
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Rank |
Destination |
Flights (2011) |
Capacity (2011) |
Capacity (1991) |
% Capacity Change (1991-2011) |
Rank Change Since 1991 |
1 |
New York (JFK) |
6,304 |
1,841,138 |
1,277,646 |
44.1 % |
+ 2 |
2 |
Dubai International (DXB) |
3,672 |
1,265,947 |
106,629 |
1087.2 % |
+ 78 |
3 |
Hong Kong International (HKG) |
3,195 |
1,097,579 |
204,571 |
436.5 % |
+ 44 |
4 |
Frankfurt (FRA) |
6,334 |
1,037,046 |
765,871 |
35.4 % |
+ 4 |
5 |
Dublin (DUB) |
6,188 |
1,029,760 |
1,065,501 |
(-3.4) % |
+ 1 |
6 |
Singapore Changi (SIN) |
2,532 |
963,381 |
388,725 |
147.8 % |
+ 15 |
7 |
Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) |
6,342 |
962,970 |
1,284,449 |
(-25.0) % |
(- 5) |
8 |
Paris CDG (CDG) |
5,661 |
908,313 |
1,865,197 |
(-51.3) % |
(- 7) |
9 |
Los Angeles International (LAX) |
2,775 |
861,143 |
421,884 |
104.1 % |
+ 10 |
10 |
Madrid Barajas (MAD) |
4,677 |
851,976 |
491,472 |
73.4 % |
(- 6) |
11 |
Newark Liberty International (EWR) |
3,581 |
827,632 |
218,606 |
278.6 % |
+ 30 |
12 |
Edinburgh (EDI) |
5,515 |
812,241 |
1,105,074 |
(-26.5) % |
(- 7) |
13 |
Munich Franz Josef Strauss (MUC) |
4,878 |
790,064 |
388,558 |
103.3 % |
+ 9 |
14 |
Chicago O’Hare International (ORD) |
3,240 |
760,011 |
267,943 |
183.6 % |
+ 19 |
15 |
Geneva Cointrin (GVA) |
5,074 |
692,874 |
511,066 |
35.6 % |
- |
16 |
Boston Logan International (BOS) |
2,806 |
686,586 |
216,346 |
217.4 % |
+ 28 |
17 |
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) |
3,911 |
682,730 |
514,790 |
32.6 % |
(- 4) |
18 |
New Delhi Indira Gandhi (DEL) |
2,512 |
669,069 |
202,216 |
230.9 % |
+ 31 |
19 |
Zürich Kloten (ZRH) |
4,223 |
647,545 |
681,885 |
(-5.0) % |
(- 9) |
20 |
Washington Dulles (IAD) |
2,725 |
639,579 |
279,664 |
128.7 % |
+ 11 |
21 |
Copenhagen Kastrup (CPH) |
3,926 |
630,220 |
433,486 |
45.4 % |
(- 3) |
22 |
Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji (BOM) |
2,182 |
624,212 |
235,811 |
164.7 % |
+ 15 |
23 |
Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK) |
1,764 |
620,722 |
237,166 |
161.7 % |
+ 13 |
24 |
Manchester (MAN) |
4,700 |
604,327 |
693,318 |
(-12.8) % |
(- 13) |
25 |
Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) |
3,907 |
576,137 |
368,731 |
56.2 % |
(- 2) |