Heathrow finally hits three million passengers in October – but full recovery not expected until 2026

Passenger numbers up 144 per cent compared to October 2020

Passenger numbers at the UK’s biggest airport are steadily rising (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Heathrow Airport managed to hit three million passengers in October 2021 – up 144 per cent compared to the same month in 2020.

It represents the sixth month of consecutive growth in passenger numbers at what was Europe’s busiest airport before the pandemic.

However, October’s passenger numbers were still 56 per cent down on those recorded prior to Covid-19 in October 2019.

Traffic at Heathrow is not forecast to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2026.

The airport has predicted that 2021’s total number of travellers will be around 21.5 million – 73.4 per cent below 2019 levels – although this number is expected to double next year.

“With air travel at other major European airports recovering faster, ministers should reassess testing requirements for fully vaccinated passengers and the Passenger Locator Form at the next Global Travel Taskforce review, to ensure the UK is aligned with its European competitors,” Heathrow previously said in a statement.

It follows an analyst claiming that Heathrow may never recover its previous top spot as Europe’s busiest airport.

Ralph Anker, editor of The Anker Report, said Heathrow is now back in the top 15 of European airports. But his assessment of airport traffic in August 2021 showed that the London hub finished 13th in passenger numbers, behind both Palma de Mallorca and Paris’s second airport, Orly.

In the peak summer months, Heathrow lost 71 per cent of its 2019 traffic, and handled fewer than half as many passengers as Istanbul.

Mr Anker told The Independent: “The gradual easing of travel restrictions on passengers returning to the UK has seen what was for many years Europe’s busiest airport, at Heathrow, finally break back into the top 15 of Europe’s busiest airports in August, having fallen to 17th in June.

“However, with Turkey’s newish mega-hub in Istanbul currently handling more than twice as many passengers as Heathrow, it may take quite a while before the UK’s busiest airport makes it back to the top spot, if it ever does.”