Heathrow Airport Braces for its Busiest-Ever Christmas

Last month was Heathrow Airport’s busiest November ever, with 6.5 million passengers passing through its four terminals. North America alone accounted for almost 1.5 million customers, illustrating London’s enormous exposure to the transatlantic market.

December is on course to be another for the history books with the London hub expecting November’s high traffic volumes to continue. While festive crowds are nothing new, this year the number of people traveling on Christmas Day itself is due to be 21% higher than in 2023.

For context, 142,000 passengers were carried on almost 800 flights on December 25 last year – this was already an all-time record for the airport. 

The projections from Heathrow mirror similar trends in the United States. December 1 was the busiest day in TSA history as the agency processed more than 3 million travelers, capping off one of the busiest Thanksgiving travel periods on record.

Heathrow at Capacity

Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports and typically ranks in third or fourth place by international traffic. However, the west London facility is often close to, or at maximum operating capacity. This means relatively minor weather or air traffic control events can cause huge knock-on disruptions.

Unlike many of its global peers, the airport has just two runways. By comparison, Amsterdam Schiphol has six, and Dallas Fort Worth has seven. Intense lobbying and planning efforts for and against building a third runway have rumbled on for over two decades. 

It is also criticized for the relatively high prices it charges airlines to use the hub. Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss previously described the situation as “monopolistic” and alleged airport management of an abuse of power.

With a new CEO heading up Heathrow, and a new Labour government winning a large majority at last summer’s UK general election, the third runway debate could once again bubble up. 

Writing in the London Evening Standard before the election, Rachel Reeves, now Chancellor (the UK equivalent of finance minister) said: “I want Heathrow to be that European hub for travel. We would need to look at all the evidence at that, but I have nothing against expanding airport capacity…I back investing in infrastructure.”

Annual Figures in Focus

Despite the well-documented infrastructure challenges, 2024 could be Heathrow’s busiest year on record. 76.8 million passengers have already passed through the airport since the start of January – a 6% rise on 2023.

Heathrow is comfortably on track to beat last year’s annual total of 79 million passengers, however, it remains to be seen if it can top its all-time high in 2019 when 80.9 million customers used the airport. 

Airlines are betting that these trends will continue into 2025. During Delta’s recent investor day, executives said they expected an increase in revenues, fueled by a strong economy and continued demand for premium and international travel.

Last year, Spanish infrastructure giant Ferrovial sold its shareholding in Heathrow’s parent company. Saudi Arabia’s PIF sovereign wealth fund acquired a 10% stake, while Paris-based Ardian took 15% in a deal worth £2.37 billion ($3 billion).

Watch Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths at Skift Global Forum East 2024: