Heathrow passenger numbers down but cargo up for March
Seats per aircraft increased 1.9% whilst load factors decreased 3.6 percentage points, to 72.2%. Passengers per aircraft decreased 3% to 146.6. Within the emerging markets, Mexico was up 19%, China was up 11.6% and Turkey was up 7.2%.
Heathrow sees the reduction in traffic and load factors as a reflection of the shift of Easter holidays into April this year, from March last year.
March also saw Dubai Airport report higher international passenger numbers than Heathrow over a two month period for the first time.
Heathrow CEO Colin Matthews said: “Passenger numbers were in line with expectations in March, consistent with the Easter bank holiday moving from March last year to April this year.
Dubai’s announcement that it has overtaken Heathrow in the last two months shows that the UK will soon no longer have the world’s number one airport for international passenger traffic.
"We want Britain to continue to compete globally against the best hub airports in the world but without a third runway, Heathrow’s comparative decline will make the whole of the UK a less attractive to do business.”