Around 708,000 passengers from the Middle East market travelled through London Heathrow in July, marking a year-on-year surge of 428% and the third highest region after European Union (2.22 million) and North America (1.75 million).  

“We have seen the largest rise in passenger numbers of any European airport in the last year. Over 6 million people travelled through Heathrow in July and an estimated 16 million are expected between July and September,” said an airport statement.

“The cap on departing passenger numbers has delivered improvements to passenger experience, with fewer last minute flight cancellations, better aircraft punctuality and baggage delivery.

“Integral to increasing the departing passenger cap is increasing airline ground handler capacity and resilience, and we have initiated a review of ground handling to support that objective,” the statement added.

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said: “Passengers are seeing better, more reliable journeys since the introduction of the demand cap. I want to thank all my colleagues across the airport for their amazing work in getting people away on their holidays. This has only been possible because of the collective and determined efforts of airport, airline and wider Team Heathrow teams.” – TradeArabia News Service