Fliers due to set record at Heathrow

Heathrow expects to fly more than 70 million passengers in 2012 – the most to have ever used the airport in a single year.

The airport's owner, BAA, said it expects record numbers of passengers thanks to fuller, larger planes used by carriers landing on its runways.

But at Stansted, which BAA is being forced to sell by the Competition Commission, traffic is expected to slip by 3.1 per cent next year to 17.3 million.