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Heathrow underlines case for third runway with record-breaking year

Heathrow reinforced its bid for expansion as new figures showed that the hub handled a record 77 million passengers in the year to June.

The number compared with 45.1 million who used rival Gatwick over the same 12 month period.

Gatwick continues to press its case for a “deliverable” second runway despite transport secretary Chris Grayling reaffirming the government’s commitment to a third runway at Heathrow.

Heathrow said today that it continued to develop plans “to improve passenger experience, reduce the impact on local communities, and lower the cost to deliver expansion at close to current charges”.

There will be further opportunity to give views during a public consultation later this year, which is part of the development consent order planning process.

The airport also revealed that El Al had promised to use new, cleaner aircraft on its Heathrow services following the introduction of a ‘Fly Clean and Quiet’ league ranking airlines according to their noise and emissions performance.

Passengers travelling through Heathrow rose by 2.3% year-on-year in June to reach a new high of 6.76 million.

The west London airport also hit a daily record, with 259,917 passengers on June 30, the busiest day ever.

Long-haul markets remained strong last month with passenger numbers to the Middle East and East Asia growing by almost 10% and more than 5% respectively.

Airlines on these routes switching to larger aircraft and increasing their load factors.

Travel to UK regional destinations also grew, with newcomer Flybe increasing its domestic share and flying 22,000 more passengers to Scottish destinations during the month.

Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: “Our record breaking year, month and day figures show Heathrow continues to be the trade and tourist gateway to all of the UK.

“To keep Britain competitive, we need expansion to build more connections for British passengers and exporters and we are glad to see the government pushing forward on the next stages of the delivery.

“Together we are showing the world the UK remains open for business.”

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