Heathrow Business and traffic commentary May 2023 (3236C)

TIDM10FX TIDM44BI

RNS Number : 3236C

Heathrow

12 June 2023

Heathrow increases lead over EU rivals for flight connections to the USA

-- The triple bank holiday in May, helped drive monthly passengers at Heathrow up to 6.7 million

-- Heathrow currently has more daily flights than ever before between the UK and USA as airlines switch capacity to North Atlantic routes and away from European and East Asian markets, which have been slower to recover

-- In May alone, 1.6m Heathrow passengers flew across the North Atlantic. One in four passengers flying between the USA and Europe in May passed through Heathrow thanks to the choice of destinations and frequency. 248 daily flights to and from Heathrow now connect Britain to 31 US destinations, building trade links with the UK's most important export market. As well as having more flights to New York than any European hub (over 30 daily departures), Heathrow is the only hub with a direct flight to Cincinnati

-- The benefits this brings through trade and tourism demonstrate that Heathrow remains critically important as the UK's gateway to the world

-- Government must reinstate Tax Free Shopping to let British businesses and the UK economy maximise the benefits from recovering markets, instead of losing out to neighbours in France, Italy and Spain, where visitors currently spend more than double they do here

-- Heathrow has 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. We have been building that contingency team ahead of the summer season and do not anticipate cancellations as a result of any future strike action

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. 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."

 
 Traffic Summary 
 
 May 2023 
 
 Terminal Passengers                                        Jan 
  (000s)                                                     to                   Jun 2022 
                                  May                       May                         to 
                                 2023   % Change           2023   % Change        May 2023   % Change 
 Market 
=====================  ==============  =========  =============  =========  ==============  ========= 
 UK                               371       14.2          1,711       32.9           3,779       38.5 
 EU                             2,276       14.0          9,829       42.6          24,236       82.6 
 Non-EU Europe                    409       11.3          2,084       26.2           4,880       65.2 
 Africa                           284       24.9          1,493       37.0           3,283       79.2 
 North America                  1,879       34.0          7,313       61.1          18,172      140.8 
 Latin America                    167       21.3            867       32.0           1,934       87.1 
 Middle East                      606       14.6          3,085       27.8           7,617       74.2 
 Asia / Pacific                   736      106.3          3,650      135.8           7,650      169.2 
 
 Total                          6,727       25.9         30,033       49.6          71,550       95.6 
---------------------  --------------  ---------  -------------  ---------  --------------  --------- 
 
 
 Air Transport                                              Jan 
  Movements                                                  to                   Jun 2022 
                                  May                       May                         to 
                                 2023   % Change           2023   % Change        May 2023   % Change 
 Market 
=====================  ==============  =========  =============  =========  ==============  ========= 
 UK                             2,826        2.2         13,197       20.0          29,329       21.2 
 EU                            17,182        5.4         77,192       29.9         183,847       53.3 
 Non-EU Europe                  3,236        8.6         16,401       24.0          36,996       49.5 
 Africa                         1,284        4.9          6,648       16.3          14,501       34.9 
 North America                  8,325       18.4         35,836       41.4          84,682       73.5 
 Latin America                    732       17.1          3,733       20.1           8,210       44.0 
 Middle East                    2,553       18.5         12,117       26.5          28,106       34.0 
 Asia / Pacific                 3,350       63.9         15,746       52.2          34,310       39.0 
 
 Total                         39,488       12.4        180,870       31.3         419,981       50.1 
---------------------  --------------  ---------  -------------  ---------  --------------  --------- 
 
 
                                                            Jan 
                                                             to                   Jun 2022 
 Cargo (Metric                    May                       May                         to 
  Tonnes)                        2023   % Change           2023   % Change        May 2023   % Change 
 Market 
=====================  ==============  =========  =============  =========  ==============  ========= 
 UK                                18      -59.3            211        0.3             408      -38.0 
 EU                             7,763      -16.4         38,298      -21.0          96,424      -21.5 
 Non-EU Europe                  3,451        3.9         15,850      -10.2          40,152      -33.3 
 Africa                         6,531      -10.8         31,488      -17.1          74,210       -8.1 
 North America                 39,545      -15.7        215,277       -9.4         534,279       -1.9 
 Latin America                  4,373       18.7         19,989       24.3          47,456       41.2 
 Middle East                   21,500        6.4         99,585        7.2         245,254        5.1 
 Asia / Pacific                29,181        6.4        127,296      -11.7         314,732      -21.3 
 
 Total                        112,363       -4.9        547,994       -7.9       1,352,916       -8.3 
---------------------  --------------  ---------  -------------  ---------  --------------  --------- 
 
 

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June 12, 2023 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)