Increased travel between London and the US contributed to Heathrow airport’s busiest January on record, a spokesman for the west London airport has said.

More than 6.3 million passengers travelled through the airport’s four terminals last month — up more than 5 per cent from the 6 million passengers in January 2024.

The airport said transatlantic travel was a “key contributor” to the growth. More than 1.2 million passengers travelled between Heathrow and the US in January, up 8 per cent compared with a year earlier.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves recently gave her support for a third runway at Heathrow.

The airport said in a statement the project would require policy changes including on airspace modernisation, planning and the regulatory regime.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said the Government supports the third runway

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said the Government supports the third runway (PA Wire)

The statement added that Heathrow is “working with our stakeholders to finalise our plans” and intends to “submit our proposal to Government by the summer”.

Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye said: “2025 has started how we mean to go on – serving record-breaking passenger numbers and delivering trade and investment across the whole of the UK.

“To ensure we continue on this upwards trajectory, the Government has signalled their support for an expanded Heathrow.

“We’ll now work with ministers to progress the necessary policy changes required to advance our growth plans.”

Airlines have said there needs to be “urgent and fundamental” reform of Heathrow’s charges as they expect passengers to be hit by a further rise in costs to pay for a third runway.

The bosses of British Airways’ parent company IAG and Virgin Atlantic urged regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to prevent passengers and airlines being “locked into higher charges for decades to come”.

Their plea was also supported by Surinder Arora, who owns a number of hotels serving the west London airport, and Heathrow AOC, which represents airlines using the hub.

The group claim record-breaking passenger numbers and the prospect of expansion “mask the fundamental problem with Heathrow”.

The CAA determines the cap on per-passenger landing charges that airlines must pay to Heathrow.

Airlines pass on the cost of these to passengers through fares.



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