Heathrow Airport saw passenger numbers fall by 1.8% this June, with 7.2 million travellers using the airport compared with 7.4 million in the same month last year.<\/p>\n
Heathrow said the decline was due to the “continued suppression of Middle East traffic” during the ongoing conflict in the region.<\/a><\/p>\n More than two million passengers travelled between Heathrow and North America during the month, an increase of 1.2% year on year.<\/p>\n The number was likely to have been boosted by tourists visiting the US for the start of the men’s FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye said it had been a strong end to the first half of 2026, despite the challenges presented by the situation in the Middle East.<\/p>\n “Sustained growth in North American and Asia-Pacific coupled with climbing cargo volumes demonstrates the strength of demand for global connectivity,” he said.<\/p>\n Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander recently launched a consultation on Heathrow’s expansion,<\/a> setting out the conditions that would need to be met for the project to be approved.<\/p>\n Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) is proposing to build a full-length 3,500-metre runway, which would require the M25 motorway to be diverted.<\/p>\n HAL’s scheme is estimated to cost \u00a333bn, including \u00a31.5bn to reroute the M25, and is expected to be funded entirely by private investment.<\/p>\n The expansion would increase Heathrow’s capacity to 756,000 flights and 150 million passengers a year.<\/p>\n Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds<\/a> and follow BBC London on Facebook, external<\/a>, X, external<\/a> and Instagram, external<\/a>. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk, external<\/a><\/p>\n