Heathrow Airport experienced its busiest day of the year on July 19, with 267,000 passengers passing through its terminals as schools began their summer break. Despite this peak, the airport's overall passenger numbers for July reached 7.85 million, marking a 1.5% decrease compared to the same month in the previous year.
Italy and Spain were among the most popular destinations for travellers. New airlines, including ITA Airways, Alaska Airlines, and Riyadh Air, commenced services at Heathrow last month, collectively carrying over 136,000 passengers.
Heathrow's chief executive, Thomas Woldbye, stated that summer is "off to a flying start" and expressed a desire to further expand the airport's route network and passenger offering. The airport is currently operating its two runways at near-full capacity and is seeking government approval to construct a third runway.
The airport's statement highlighted that Heathrow was overtaken by Istanbul Airport as Europe's busiest hub in July. The Iran-US conflict also impacted passenger traffic, with Middle East routes seeing a 20.2% year-on-year decrease in July.