Heathrow is 'busiest international airport'

Thursday 31 July 2008

Airline & Airport Updates

London Heathrow is the most used airport for international travel in the world, according to a new report.

Data in the Airports Council International's (ACI) 2007 World Traffic Report showed that the UK's largest airport catered for 62 million individual passengers last year.

The top five busiest international airports were dominated by European bases with the exception of Hong Kong, which came fifth in the list with 46 million passengers.

London Heathrow beat Paris Charles de Gaulle, with 55 million passengers, to the top spot while Amsterdam and Frankfurt came in a close third and fourth with 48 and 47 million passengers respectively.

In terms of total numbers of passengers however, which includes those travelling domestically, Heathrow comes in second to Chicago O'Hare, which was visited by 76 million flyers last year.

Local council leaders have published proposals for a £30 billion high-speed rail link between the north and the south of the country, which may rule out a third runway expansion of London Heathrow, according to authorities.