Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest two-runway airports, with millions of passengers traveling through its terminals annually and about 1,300 combined take-offs and landings a day, according to its website.
Last year, a record-breaking 83.9 million passengers traveled through the aviation hub, officials said, up 6% in passenger growth from the year prior.
Earlier this year, the airport saw its busiest January on record, it said, averaging more than 200,000 passengers a day for 11 consecutive months.
More than 1.2 million passengers travelled between the UK and the US that month, up 8% from 2024, it said.
Heathrow began as a small airfield in 1930 and didn’t expand into a larger international airport until after World War II.
It opened in 1946 as London Airport. The first aircraft to take off from its airfield was a converted Lancaster bomber called Starlight that flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Today, more than 67 million passengers travel through the airport annually, with more than 90 airlines traveling to about 180 destinations across more than 90 countries, according to the airport.
The airport has six terminals, with five open to the public and one reserved specifically for royals and heads of state. Terminal five of the airport is the largest free-standing structure in the UK.
Apart from ferrying passengers across the globe, its cargo center transports animals from lions to rhinos, exotic artworks, and parts to NASA’s International Space Station.
