London Heathrow Airport reports busiest December and record calendar year traffic in 2012

UK's London Heathrow Airport passenger numbers up 2% - traffic highlights:

• Dec-2012:
  
  • Passenger numbers: 5.6 million, +2.0%;
  • Cargo volume: 120,035 tonnes, -3.5%;
  • Aircraft movements: 37,445, -1.8%;
• 2012:
  
  • Passenger numbers: 70.0 million, +0.9%;
  • Cargo volume: 1.5 million tonnes, -1.3%;
  • Aircraft movements: 471,341, -1.0%.

Heathrow attributed the airport's growth to North Atlantic traffic, which increased 3.2%. Strength in services with Brazil, up 21.6% (due to more flights), the Middle East and central Asia, up 3.4% (due partially to recovery in key markets from the unrest in the region that impacted 2011) and East Asia, up 6.2% (due partly to recovery from 2011's Japanese tsunami) was offset particularly by weakness in African and Indian traffic, down 5.7% and 3.4% respectively, due to airlines reducing or ceasing services. The BRIC economies performed well throughout 2012, collectively up 2.4%. European traffic increased modestly, up 0.5% but with significant variances, reflecting economic conditions, with Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain seeing a collective passenger reduction of 4.5% in 2012. Offsetting this, Germany's traffic increased by 2.3% and France's traffic rose by 0.6%. Domestic traffic was up slightly, by 0.5%. [more - original PR]