Heathrow has booming traffic thanks to triple bank holiday boost

London’s Heathrow Airport had 6.7m passengers in May as a triple bank holiday and strong demand for transatlantic routes helped it shrug off eight days of strike action.

The airport said this morning that it currently has “more daily flights than ever before between the UK and USA,” with one in four passengers flying between the USA and Europe in May passing through Heathrow.

In total, 1.6m passengers flew across the North Atlantic from Heathrow, and North American travel saw a 34 per cent increase year on year.

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said: “The unrivalled choice of destinations and high frequency to cities like New York make flights from Heathrow vital trade routes with the USA, Britain’s most important export market.”

It marks the beginning of what is expected to be a record summer for travel, with airlines anticipating bumper bookings as post-pandemic pent-up demand sees Brits opt for cheap holidays despite cost-of-living pressures.

Transatlantic travel has seen a particular boost in the period, with North Atlantic routes recovering from the pandemic more quickly than European and East Asian markets.

Alongside inflation, Heathrow has also had to cope with numerous days of strike action from Unite Union workers, which has seen security staff walk out repeatedly in a dispute over pay. 

It is anticipating further industrial action on nearly every weekend this summer after further walk-outs were announced last week, but said in today’s announcement that it does not expect further cancellations.

Holland-Kaye added: “We have delivered excellent service to passengers, with no cancellations, over eight days of strikes on the busiest days in May, and do not anticipate cancellations as a result of strikes during the summer holiday getaway.”

The airport said it had “successfully managed eight days of strikes during the busiest days in May, with no delays at security and no flight cancellations thanks to a strong contingency resource.”