LONDON - 14/01/2013 08:06:28 PM [PAA]
Britain's biggest airport had a record-breaking year in 2012.
Heathrow handled almost 70 million passengers last year - a new calendar-year high and 0.9 per cent more than in 2011, said data released on Monday.
The growth at the west London airport was driven by a 3.2 per cent increase in north Atlantic traffic.
There were also many more flights to Brazil as well as growth on Middle East, central Asian and East Asian routes.
African traffic dipped 5.7 per cent and Indian traffic was down 3.4 per cent last year due to airlines either reducing or ceasing services.
European traffic rose just 0.5 per cent. There were significant variances, reflecting economic conditions, with Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain seeing a collective passenger reduction of 4.5 per cent over the course of 2012.
Greece experienced the largest reduction (down 7.3 per cent) followed by Italy (down 6.8 per cent).
Offsetting this, Germany's traffic increased by 2.3 per cent and France's traffic rose by 0.6 per cent. Domestic traffic was up slightly, by 0.5 per cent.
Brazil saw the biggest increase (up 21 per cent), followed by China, which saw passenger numbers rise 5.9 per cent, while Russia had a 4.5 per cent increase in passenger numbers.
Planes in and out of Heathrow flew 75.6 per cent full last year compared with 75.2 per cent in 2011. The 2012 figure was another record.
Cargo traffic for 2012 was down 1.3 per cent.
The 2012 statistics were boosted by record December figures, with 5.6 million passing through the airport - 2.0 per cent up on December 2011.
Heathrow chief executive Colin Matthews said the figures for 2012 showed Heathrow was delivering higher passenger numbers despite a tough economic climate.
"At the same time passenger satisfaction reached record levels," he said.
