Heathrow airport has recorded its busiest month since March 2020.
In May 2022, the UK’s aviation hub saw 5.3 million passengers pass through, hitting 79 per cent of pre-pandemic numbers in 2019.
The airport claimed the increased traveller numbers had not adversely affected its performance, saying that 90 per cent of passengers were through security in less than 10 minutes.
“No more flights were cancelled at short notice than on any normal day and Border Force performed well,” according to a statement.
In the next step to up capacity, Heathrow is reopening Terminal 4, which has mothballed sinced the start of the pandemic, from 14 June.
Thirty airlines will start flying from T4, with airport keen to build on existing resources.
“We are increasing our own security, engineering and services teams, and supporting other employers across the airport with their recruitment,” the airport says.
“We are working closely with airlines and handlers to match supply and demand. This has made the difference at Heathrow in being able to get passengers away over Easter and the Jubilee half term and is now being adopted by other major hubs in Europe.
“Recent criticism of service levels across the sector demonstrates that our plan to maintain high levels of passenger service during the [current] H7 regulatory period is the right one for consumers, and that the last thing passengers want is a cut price plan that leads to the cancelled holidays, stress and ‘hassle’ seen at other airports.”
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye added: “I’m immensely proud of the way my team has worked with airlines and other partners to ensure passengers got away during the Jubilee half term.
“We continue to make good progress with our plans to ramp up capacity and are working closely with airlines and government to keep supply and demand in balance as we grow, so that passengers can travel through Heathrow this summer with confidence.
“We now need a regulatory settlement from the CAA that protects service and resilience levels, incentivises investment and maintains affordable private financing. Failure to invest risks degrading passenger experience at a time when it has never been more important for operations to ramp up smoothly.”
