Both London-Heathrow Airport (LHR) and London-Stansted Airport (STA) have posted record passenger figures citing the half-term holidays for the boost in numbers.
On November 11, 2024, London-Heathrow Airport said that it had seen its busiest ever October with 7.2 million passengers flying through Heathrow.
A spokesperson for the airport said it was sixth consecutive month in which passenger numbers have exceeded seven million and predicts that 83.8 million travelers will pass through the airport in 2024, an increase of 2.9 million on 2019’s previous annual record of 80.9 million.
“This year has been all about breaking records at Heathrow. To keep up with growing demand and progress towards our vision of an extraordinary airport fit for the future we are investing more than £1 billion in 2024 alone. Being home to the world’s most connected airport is a huge boost for the UK economy thanks to Heathrow’s unrivalled links for passengers and cargo,” said Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye.
Heathrow was busiest with passengers flying from and to North America and the European Union, followed by Asia and the Middle East.
A spokesperson for London-Stansted Airport said it recorded its busiest day on record on October 27, 2024, with 107,000 passengers passing through the terminal.
The new daily record beat the previous high of 104,000 set on August 23, 2024, and is the fourth time the record has been broken this year.
The airport also saw its busiest ever October with 2.67 million passengers using the airport, a rise of 97,000 from October 2023.
Routes to Turkey, the Canaries, Spain, and Portugal were the most popular with those heading away on holiday.
“To record the busiest day in the history of London Stansted in late October is an incredible achievement and a powerful reflection of reliability, great choice, value and operational efficiency the airport and our airline partners are able to offer our passengers,” said Gareth Powell, London Stansted’s Managing Director.