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UK sees rise in busiest international passenger routes in 2024

UK sees rise in busiest international passenger routes in 2024
Policy
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Sir Stephen Hillier Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority | UK Civil Aviation Authority

The UK Civil Aviation Authority has reported an increase in international passenger traffic, with 256 million passengers in 2024, amounting to over 700,000 daily. This represents an 8% rise from 2023 and slightly surpasses the pre-pandemic levels of 2019 by 0.3%. Analyzing the busiest routes, the UK boasted 30 international markets with over one million passengers each, with the route between London Heathrow and New York JFK leading the list.

"All figures are two-way at the airport level, not the city level," noted the report. The data includes all types of passengers, such as those flying directly between two airports and those connecting through them.

In 2024, notable additions to the list from 2023 were Heathrow-Abu Dhabi, Manchester-Amsterdam, and Heathrow-Miami. Collectively, these 30 markets accounted for 41.6 million passengers, equivalent to one in six international passengers in the UK. London Heathrow featured prominently in 24 of the top 30 routes and all of the top 10 due to the inclusion of connecting passengers in the calculations.

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Specifically, the Heathrow-JFK route had over four million available round-trip seats from airlines like American, British Airways, Delta, JetBlue, and Virgin Atlantic. These airlines carried 3.2 million passengers, achieving an 80% load factor across the year.

On the Heathrow-Doha route, traffic exceeded two million passengers for the first time, with Qatar Airways and British Airways operating up to 11 daily flights. This route saw a 17% increase from 2023, and 80% of passengers connected onward from Doha, with India, Pakistan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand emerging as key onward markets.

Meanwhile, Heathrow-Dublin was identified as the busiest short-haul route, carrying 1.9 million passengers. Heathrow captured about 53% of the larger London-Dublin market, influenced by a significant portion of passengers connecting through these hubs to other destinations.

Organizations Included in this History
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