The number of passengers passing through the UK’s main air hub in March was
down 2.8 per cent on March 2013 to 5.8 million, of whom 5.3 million were
international, the airport announced on Friday.
Colin Matthews, Heathrow’s chief executive, said the decline was in line with
expectations and largely because of Easter moving from March to April in
2014.
However, in March, Dubai reported higher international passenger numbers than
Heathrow over a two-month period for the first time.
The Middle East hub that is home to Emirates Airline and flydubai said the
expansion of the two operators was behind a rise of 11.7 per cent in its
passenger traffic to 5.68 million in February from the same period last year.
For the first two months of the year passenger numbers rose 13.5 per cent to
12.08 million.
The comparable figure for Heathrow for the past two months was 9.8 million
international passengers.
Paul Griffiths, Dubai Airports chief executive, said he expected Dubai
International to overtake Heathrow in terms of international passenger numbers
by 2015.
Forecast
Heathrow is the world’s third biggest airport by total passenger numbers and
was still the largest when measured by international passengers last year.
However Matthews said Dubai’s forecast “shows that the UK will soon no longer
have the world’s number one airport for international passenger
traffic”.
“We want Britain to continue to compete globally against the best hub
airports in the world, but without a third runway Heathrow’s comparative decline
will make the whole of the UK a less attractive to do business.”
Stephen Furlong, airlines analyst at Davy, said it was not just Dubai that
was threatening Heathrow’s position as the pre-eminent long-haul hub. “There’s
Abu Dhabi, Istanbul, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, Munich and others,” he
said. “They’re all growing and some exponentially.”
Matthew’s comments come shortly after Gatwick published research arguing that
it was the most appropriate site for another runway because the rise of low-cost
airlines in Europe meant that the biggest demand was for short-haul
flights.
The Airports Commission, set up by the government and chaired by Sir Howard
Davies, in December shortlisted Heathrow and Gatwick as potential locations for
the UK’s next new runway and both airports are keen to be selected as the most
suitable site.
The commission is also examining a proposal by Boris Johnson, mayor of
London, to build a new hub in the Thames estuary.
Underlying basis
Furlong said that while the decision on where to build London’s next runway
was political, “on an economic basis it’s hard to argue that Heathrow shouldn’t
be allowed to grow”. “At the end of the day the long-haul hub for the UK is
Heathrow.”
Heathrow’s 3 per cent passenger growth to 72.3 million last year was
flattered by fewer people flying out of the airport in the run-up to and during
the 2012 London Olympics. On an underlying basis, the number of passengers rose
2 per cent in 2013.
Gatwick, the UK’s second biggest airport, has said its passenger numbers rose
4 per cent to 35.4 million last year.
On Thursday, MPs said that the Christmas Eve flooding at Gatwick — during
which 11,000 people were affected by delays and cancellations — should be a
“wake-up call for airports across the UK” in tackling disruption.
“Disruption of whatever nature should be met with well-drilled plans,
familiar to airport operators, airlines, and other contractors, which put
passenger interests first,” the transport select committee said in a
report.
Among Heathrow’s emerging market destinations, traffic to Mexico was up 19
per cent, China 11.67 per cent and Turkey 7.2 per cent.
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