Heathrow sees passenger numbers fall in peak summer holidays month

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Heathrow airport has revealed a fall in passengers during the peak getaway month of August as it flagged “big challenges” across the sector.

The west London airport said 7.87 million passengers passed through its four terminals last month, down 2.1% year-on-year, despite cheering a record busy day on August 2, with nearly 272,000 passengers.

It comes after the firm revealed recently it was overtaken by Istanbul as Europe’s busiest airport in July.

But Heathrow said it remained the most “punctual” airport in Europe.

Heathrow says it is the most punctual airport in Europe (Steve Parsons/PA) (PA Archive)

“Despite some big challenges across aviation this season, passengers consistently had smooth journeys, with 98% waiting less than five minutes at security, and 98% seeing bags depart as planned, helping retain the title of Europe’s most punctual hub,” the airport said.

UK airports have been thrown into chaos this week by a technical issue at National Air Traffic Services (Nats), which caused more than 2,000 flights arriving or departing the UK to be cancelled following the fault on Tuesday.

The disruption continued into Wednesday, but returned to normal throughout Thursday.

Calls have mounted for the head of Nats, Martin Rolfe, to resign, while Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told MPs on Wednesday afternoon she did not believe the air traffic control issue was “unavoidable”.

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