Heathrow sees big fall in passenger numbers in month of power cut shut-down
The number of passengers using Heathrow fell sharply last month when a disastrous fire at a power substation closed the airport.
Heathrow handled 6.218 million passengers during the month, down 7.5%.
The west London hub blamed the timing of Ramadan and a later Easter - as well as the 10-hour closure caused by the power supply failure at the North Hyde substation - for the slump.
Almost 300,000 passengers were caught up in the chaos caused by the shutdown of the airport for most of 21 March.
It means that for the year to date passenger traffic is down 1.5% at 18.247 million. However it insisted it is still on track for record passenger volumes for the year as a whole.
The number of passengers on flights to and from EU countries were down 8.5% while North America saw a 7.4% fall. Asian passenger numbers fell 4.6% and the Middle East market was 8% down.
More than 1,300 flights were diverted or cancelled by the near-total shutdown of Heathrow on Friday 21 March. A few flights were allowed to arrive and depart later in the day.
A further 100 or more were grounded on the following day as airlines battled to get their services back on track.
But the airport remained upbeat about prospects for the rest of the Spring saying it “anticipates an increase in passengers over the next few months as many people plan to reunite with loved ones during the Easter period and take advantage of the May bank holidays.”
CEO Thomas Woldbye said : “It’s great to see strong demand to travel through Heathrow. Whilst passenger numbers were slightly down due to changing holidays this year, belly hold cargo on passenger flights was a bright spot growing 4% and underlining the importance of Heathrow as the UK’s gateway to growth.
“We are still on track to see another record year in 2025 and colleagues are working hard preparing for a busy Easter and May Bank Holiday getaway.”
The month saw eight new and resumed routes from airlines including Virgin Atlantic, Air Canada providing connections to Riyadh, Ottawa) and Kuala Lumpur.
