2024 could be a record airport year

Figures published by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and individual airports indicate that 2024 could well be a record year for passenger throughput, says Travel News Update (TNU).   

In 2019 the annual UK number was 296m. With Heathrow announcing a record throughput for December of 6.6m, fractionally up on the 2019 performance, there is every indication that the 300m barrier will be broken for 2024. London, with its five (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and City) international airports, is by some way the world’s busiest international aviation hub.

Stansted rounded off a strong passenger performance in 2023 by welcoming more than 2m passengers in December, a record figure for the month. The airport’s owner, Manchester Airports Group (MAG includes Manchester and East Midlands airports) recorded a strong performance in December, during which 4.3m passengers passed through, up 103% on 2019 levels.

With Heathrow, and to some extent Gatwick, the loss of the Boeing 747 fleet and reduction of Airbus 380 movements, has made little difference with passenger load factors improving.

The vital cargo element continues to be reasonably strong.  The gift-giving season saw Heathrow process 133,277 tonnes of cargo in December, culminating in a total of over 1.43m tonnes processed in 2023.  This is still below 2019 when the combined passenger and cargo aircraft cargo uplift was 137,776 tonnes.

www.caa.co.uk/data-and-analysis/uk-aviation-market/airports

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