Heathrow airport hails busiest ever month with eight million passengers

Heathrow airport has revealed it handled more than eight million passengers last month for the first time in its history, as it renewed calls for its expansion.

It said it was the first European airport to surpass this figure following a busy summer of travel.

Heathrow reported its busiest ever day on August 1, with around 270,000 people passing through.

It also highlighted a drop in the number of flight cancellations on the day of travel – down by a third over the summer, compared with the same period last year.

But it added that it was “now operating at full capacity to the detriment of UK trade and connectivity”, adding that it welcomes the Government’s “commitment to expanding Heathrow”.

The west London airport has previously flagged that its two runways were being used at almost full capacity, therefore stifling the ability to grow passenger numbers.

It unveiled plans to build a full-length third runway in August, which it said would enable an additional 276,000 flights per year.

Heathrow proposed that the expansion would be privately financed, meaning no taxpayer money would be used, at a cost of £21 billion.

It also expects that it would be operational within a decade.

Heathrow’s chief executive Thomas Woldbye said August would “go down in the history books” for the record high numbers of travellers.