Heathrow becomes world’s fourth busiest airport after bumper October
Some 7.0 million passengers travelled through the west London airport last month.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Heathrow Airport said it has become the fourth busiest airport in the world.
Some 7.0 million passengers travelled through the west London airport last month.
That is up 19% from 5.9 million during the same month last year.
During the October half-term school holiday, 2.2 million passengers passed through Heathrow’s terminals, with Dubai, New York and Los Angeles among the most popular destinations.
Last month’s total was less than 1% below the pre-pandemic figure from October 2019.
I’ve learned a lot about Heathrow in my first few weeks
Heathrow said data from aviation analytics provider OAG show it was the world’s fourth busiest airport last month.
After reopening its borders, Hong Kong became Heathrow’s 12th route to pass one million passengers for the year.
Heathrow claimed the busy October “helped to prepare us for the peak season of festive travel ahead”.
New chief executive Thomas Woldbye said: “I’ve learned a lot about Heathrow in my first few weeks, but one thing that really stands out to me is the passion and drive of colleagues to get people away smoothly on their journeys.”