Traffic and business commentary March 2015

07.00 13 April 2015

Heathrow traffic and business commentary March 2015

· Heathrow saw its busiest ever March with a record 5.95 million passengers travelling through the UK's hub, an increase of 3.4% on March 2014 as the airport benefitted from an earlier Easter travel rush

· Larger, fuller, quieter aircraft at Heathrow continued to be a driver for passenger growth. Seats per aircraft increased 1.6% to 206.4, while load factors increased 1.6 percentage points to 73.3%. Passengers per aircraft rose 3.2% to 151.3

· Within emerging markets, passenger volumes were particularly strong to Mexico which was up 26.5%, China up 20.2% and the Middle East & Central Asia up 7.6%. North American segments continued their robust performance with volumes increasing 6.0%

· Heathrow continued to welcome an increasing number of the transfer passengers that make such long-haul routes viable, with year-on-year volumes up 4.3%

· Cargo volumes recorded growth of 2.9% overall, including increases of 53.0% to Mexico, 28.8% to Turkey, 9.1% to Brazil and 6.9% to India

· Vietnam Airlines celebrated its inaugural flight to Heathrow on the 31st March, demonstrating once again the draw of the hub's unique mix of premium direct and transfer passengers

· The National Connectivity Task Force's final report on regional air links found that as the UK's hub Heathrow is best placed to spread the benefits of airport expansion as widely as possible across the whole of the UK

· Heathrow announced a package of measures which will boost regional connectivity - including a proposed £10 discount on domestic passenger charges and a £10 million route development fund to support five new domestic routes for three years - while encouraging cleaner, quieter aircraft to operate from the UK's hub

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said:

"All the growth in the world is in faraway markets like China, Vietnam and Mexico - we can create jobs right across Britain if we make it easy to get there from anywhere in the UK.

This month we have announced measures to help airlines establish services from UK airports to Heathrow, including lower charges for domestic passengers and a route development fund. Along with easyJet's recent announcement that it plans to operate new domestic routes from Heathrow, this demonstrates our commitment that expanding Heathrow will connect all of Britain to global growth. Now, let's get on with it."