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Britain’s biggest airport has hit a new milestone with more than 70 million passengers filing through in the space of 12 months – although Heathrow’s owner admits the increase in its record-breaking year is largely down to Easter.

While BAA has pointed to fuller planes and the airport’s “‘resilience'”, the variation in the Christian calendar means that the Easter bulge in traffic has occurred twice in the last 12 months, this March and in April 2011.

The Easter factor generated almost 7% more passengers in March 2012 compared with the previous year, with 5.7 million people passing through Heathrow’s terminals last month. The load factor, or proportion of plane seats filled by passengers, was also up by 4.2% for the month, which BAA says continues an upward trend.

source: Guardian.co.uk

Airport operator BAA said 6.1 million passengers travelled through Heathrow in June, 6.3% more than the same month a year earlier.

That made June the London airport’s busiest on record, although its comparative figure was partly due to British Airways strikes hitting traffic last year. Without that impact, Heathrow’s growth was up 3.8% on the year.

However, BAA added: “‘In contrast to the rise in passenger numbers, growth in the global air freight market continued to slow as the strong post-recession recovery phase comes to an end.'”

source: thisislondon.co.uk

German flag-carrier Lufthansa has joined Virgin Atlantic in pressing BAA to compensate airlines hit by disruption at London Heathrow Airport over the festive season.

Planes were grounded for up to four days before Christmas, as facilities at Europe’s busiest airport ground to a halt.

Last week Virgin Atlantic confirmed it would withhold payments due to BAA – believed to total approximately £10 million – until the airport operator completes an internal review into the incident.

source: breakingtravelnews.com