London Heathrow increases lead over EU rivals for flight connections to the USA

• The triple bank holiday in May, helped drive monthly passengers at Heathrow up to 6.7 million
• Heathrow currently has more daily flights than ever before between the UK and the USA as airlines switch capacity to North Atlantic routes and away from European and East Asian markets, which have been slower to recover
• In May alone 1.6m Heathrow passengers flew across the North Atlantic. One in four passengers flying between the USA and Europe in May passed through Heathrow thanks to the choice of destinations and frequency. 248 daily flights to and from Heathrow now connect Britain to 31 US destinations, building trade links with the UK’s most important export market. As well as having more flights to New York than any European hub (over 30 daily departures), Heathrow is the only hub with a direct flight to Cincinnati
• The benefits this brings through trade and tourism demonstrate that Heathrow remains critically important as the UK’s gateway to the world
• Government must reinstate Tax Free Shopping to let British businesses and the UK economy maximise the benefits from recovering markets, instead of losing out to neighbours in France, Italy and Spain, where visitors currently spend more than double they do in Heathrow
• Heathrow has successfully managed eight days of strikes during the busiest days in May, with no delays at security and no flight cancellations thanks to a strong contingency resource. We have been building that contingency team ahead of the summer season and do not anticipate cancellations as a result of any future strike action

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said: “The unrivalled choice of destinations and high frequency to cities like New York make flights from Heathrow vital trade routes with the USA, Britain’s most important export market. We have delivered excellent service to passengers, with no cancellations, over eight days of strikes on the busiest days in May, and do not anticipate cancellations as a result of strikes during the summer holiday getaway.”