Heathrow Airport said on Wednesday that it had beaten major European rivals to retain the top spot as Europe’s busiest airport and the second busiest airport in the world for international flights second to Dubai.
The West London airfield saw 16.9 million passengers pass through its doors in the first three months of 2023, more than Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt am Main and Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.
Despite the continued surge in passenger numbers, however, outgoing Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye said the airport remained loss-making, reporting Adjusted losses of £139 million for Q1 2023.
Holland-Kaye blamed the British aviation regulator’s decision to cap airport charges below the target demanded by Heathrow for the poor financial performance. Airlines, however, are taking legal action against the Civil Aviation Authority in an attempt to push the charges down even further.
Heathrow said it performed particularly well over the recent Easter holidays, despite a high-profile strike by security officers represented by the Unite union.
A spokesperson said that “robust contingency plans” had worked as planned and that customers shouldn’t expect to experience disruption due to further “unnecessary” strike action planned by the union.
Heathrow says it expects passenger numbers to peak again during the upcoming Coronation weekend and Half Term holiday but reassured passengers that it would be ‘business as normal’.
With pandemic travel restrictions all but history, Heathrow has already reopened routes to 10 Chinese cities but called on the UK government to bring back tax-free shopping for foreign tourists.
British fashion house Burberry recently slammed the decision to abolish tax refunds for tourists as a “massive own goal” on the part of the government. Burberry’s chair Gerry Murphy said it was a “somewhat perverse” decision that made the UK less attractive than European destinations.
