Heathrow warns it may fall behind Paris as Europe’s No1 airport hub ‘within two years’
- Heathrow says that Paris-Charles De Gaulle is growing at twice the rate that it is
- Figures show that 6.1million passengers travelled through Heathrow in January
- Heathrow’s chief executive said new runway was needed to make UK a ‘winner’
Heathrow has warned it is set to lose its title as Europe’s leading hub airport within the next two years.
The airport says that EU competitor Paris-Charles de Gaulle is growing at twice its rate and will eventually claim the No1 spot if this rate of growth is sustained.
Heathrow’s chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, says it would be an ‘economic disaster for the country to fall behind, just as we leave the EU’.
Heathrow, pictured, has warned it is set to lose its title as Europe’s busiest hub airport within the next two years
He said: ‘If we are to be a truly global Britain, we need to be better connected to global markets than our rivals in Europe.
‘Heathrow’s new runway will make the UK a winner, connecting all of Britain to global growth and that’s why we need to get on with delivering it.’
New figures show that 6.1million passengers travelled through Heathrow in January – up 2.9 per cent on the same month last year.
The most significant growth was on UK routes, where passenger numbers were up 10.2 per cent. Routes to Newquay and Guernsey were highlighted as being particularly popular.
Middle East routes grew by 7.6 per cent while North America routes were up 4.7 per cent.
However, passenger numbers were down to Latin America and Asia Pacific destinations – both by 3.9 per cent.
Heathrow says that EU competitor Paris-Charles de Gaulle, pictured, is growing at twice its rate and will eventually claim the No1 spot if this rate of growth is sustained
In addition in January, over 115,000 metric tonnes of cargo travelled through Heathrow, the UK’s largest port by value.
Last year saw 80.9million passengers use Heathrow – a record annual total.
It also had its busiest ever December in 2019, with more than 6.7million passengers using the airport during the festive season.
The airport said that the availability of larger aircraft drove passenger growth.