Strong performance over Jubilee holiday shows regulator the value of focus on passenger service picture

Strong performance over Jubilee holiday shows regulator the value of focus on passenger service

13 June, 2022

Strong performance over Jubilee holiday shows regulator the value of focus on passenger service

 

  • 5.3m passengers travelled through Heathrow in May, 79% of 2019 levels, in line with our revised forecast.
  • Close coordination and planning with airport partners meant that passengers got away on their flights from Heathrow over the busy Jubilee half term. Check in generally worked well, with more passengers checking in online and despite May being our busiest month since March 2020, 90% 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.
  • As part of our longstanding ramp up plan, we will reopen Terminal 4 on 14 June and 30 airlines will move in ahead of the summer peak.  We are increasing our own security, engineering and services teams, and supporting other employers across the airport with their recruitment.   
  • While we rebuild capacity from the pandemic, resources remains tight, in line with other airports in the UK and Europe. 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 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.  We urge the CAA to protect service and resilience levels, incentivise investment and maintain affordable private financing, all of which can be achieved for less than the equivalent of a 2% increase in ticket prices.

 

Heathrow CEO, John Holland-Kaye said:

“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.”

 

Traffic Summary

      
       

May 2022

     
       

Terminal Passengers
(000s)

 May 2022

% Change

Jan to
May 2022

% Change

Jun 2021 to
May 2022

% Change

Market

 

 

 

 

 

 

UK

             325

224.4

           1,288

292.9

           2,728

220.0

EU

           1,996

674.0

           6,893

686.6

         13,275

217.0

Non-EU Europe

             367

579.7

           1,651

604.5

           2,954

221.3

Africa

             227

320.4

           1,090

265.0

           1,832

183.3

North America

           1,403

1500.6

           4,540

1267.8

           7,546

721.6

Latin America

             138

1385.2

             657

1716.0

           1,034

572.4

Middle East

             528

973.9

           2,414

607.5

           4,373

290.7

Asia / Pacific

             357

466.6

           1,548

247.9

           2,842

153.3

       

Total

           5,341

691.1

         20,081

594.5

         36,583

268.8

       
       

Air Transport Movements

 May 2022

% Change

Jan to
May 2022

% Change

Jun 2021 to
May 2022

% Change

Market

 

 

 

 

 

 

UK

           2,766

146.5

         10,995

173.8

         24,194

144.4

EU

         16,297

381.3

         59,427

392.8

       119,928

140.8

Non-EU Europe

           2,979

329.9

         13,222

354.7

         24,747

152.2

Africa

           1,224

121.3

           5,714

100.4

         10,749

67.4

North America

           7,030

178.3

         25,348

124.3

         48,820

89.9

Latin America

             625

334.0

           3,107

453.8

           5,703

183.3

Middle East

           2,154

87.5

           9,575

69.6

         20,972

51.5

Asia / Pacific

           2,044

24.5

         10,348

19.8

         24,675

17.1

       

Total

         35,119

213.1

       137,736

187.1

       279,788

101.9

       
       

Cargo
(Metric Tonnes)

 May 2022

% Change

Jan to
May 2022

% Change

Jun 2021 to
May 2022

% Change

Market

 

 

 

 

 

 

UK

                 5

-76.2

               36

-55.5

             175

37.6

EU

           8,788

-20.6

         45,807

-9.3

       116,473

16.7

Non-EU Europe

           3,141

-46.3

         16,387

-42.2

         55,633

-9.4

Africa

           7,263

19.0

         37,627

6.7

         79,964

2.4

North America

         45,163

9.1

       229,679

23.0

       524,714

31.4

Latin America

           3,670

113.0

         15,965

161.4

         33,349

21.7

Middle East

         19,833

0.2

         90,919

-0.4

       228,220

3.8

Asia / Pacific

         26,503

-16.0

       139,310

-10.5

       386,160

10.3

       

Total

       114,364

-2.7

       575,732

3.9

    1,424,688

15.3