Business and traffic commentary August 2017

07.00 11th September 2017

More passengers and trade send Heathrow soaring to record August high

§ Heathrow rounded off a record summer welcoming 7.5 million passengers in August. It was Heathrow's best-ever August - up 2% on last year - and the second busiest month in the airport's history

§ UK destinations saw 6% passenger growth on the back of recently launched Flybe flights to Scotland. Middle Eastern destinations were also popular with travellers with fuller aircraft leading to a 7% increase in passengers to the region

§ Cargo flowing through the UK's largest port climbed 13% to 139,000 tonnes making August the 13th consecutive record month for cargo volumes at Heathrow

§ Latin America was the fastest growing trading market with cargo volumes increasing 30% in August. North America also performed well with volumes up 13% to nearly 50,000 tonnes as American Airlines, United and Air Canada increased cargo. Strong growth to China, Hong Kong and Singapore also helped East Asia record a 12% cargo uplift

§ Next-generation aircraft are making Heathrow cleaner and quieter with more than 700 additional flights on Boeing 787s this August versus last year - 787s are the fastest growing aircraft type at the UK's hub

§ Earlier this month, Heathrow revealed that 121 sites have bid to help build an expanded Heathrow. The airport is looking to build as much of the project offsite as possible to boost jobs across the country and make the project more affordable and sustainable

§ Lord Blunkett and the Heathrow Skills Taskforce today opened a six-week online forum to gather feedback from across the UK to shape Heathrow's once-in-a-generation careers and skills strategy. With expansion, up to 180,000 jobs and 10,000 apprenticeships will be created

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said:

"Demand to travel from Heathrow has never been stronger - every day we're welcoming record numbers of passengers to Heathrow with modern British hospitality and our trade with the rest of the world is growing in the double-digits. Heathrow is firing on all cylinders and showing the world our country is open for business."