Heathrow and Gatwick airports report record travel numbers for July

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July was Heathrow's busiest month ever with 6.97 million passengers
Gatwick set a monthly record with 4.1 million travellers, up 6%
Airports continue to trade barbs as they campaign for support

Published: 07:22 EST, 11 August 2014 | Updated: 07:29 EST, 11 August 2014

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London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports are reporting record passenger traffic numbers for July as they compete for the right to build the UK’s next runway.

Officials said July was Heathrow's busiest month ever with 6.97 million passengers passing through its terminals, up 0.5 per cent from July 2013.

It was a solid month for Gatwick, which set a new record for monthly traffic with 4.1 million travellers, up six per cent from the same month a year ago.

Ready for takeoff: Heathrow Airport said July was its busiest month ever, with 6.97 million passengers

Gatwick airport set a new record for monthly traffic with 4.1 million travellers in July

Officials said nearly 240,000 people travelled through Heathrow on 27 July, making it the airport’s busiest day ever.

Heathrow and Gatwick are celebrating their travel numbers and using them to tout their expansion plans over the other.

The airports continue to spar in a bitter campaign to convince the government – and the public – to endorse their proposals.

Heathrow had its busiest day ever on 27 July when 240,000 people travelled through its terminals

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said Air China has doubled its routes to Beijing, calling it a vote of confidence for the airport as he took a shot at Gatwick.

He said: ‘It’s also recognition that despite other UK airports having spare capacity, only Heathrow can deliver daily, direct flights to emerging economies that will help Britain win in the global race for growth. Gatwick can’t, Heathrow can.’

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Nick Dunn, Gatwick’s Chief Financial Officer, claimed an expanded Heathrow would be bad for the consumer.

He said: ‘Building a third runway at Heathrow will diminish the choice available to British passengers, making it more expensive to go on holiday, to travel for business and to export goods and services.

‘We support competition, reduced fares and two world-class London airports serving the UK as a whole.’

Gatwick's increase was due to a spike in travel between European and transatlantic destinations

Gatwick’s bump was largely due to a 10.5 per cent increase in European traffic, with the business routes between Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam performing well.

North American travel jumped by 6.6 per cent thanks to the introduction of Norwegian Air Shuttle’s low-cost transatlantic flights to New York, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale.

Heathrow reported increased travel between Mexico (15.4 per cent), China (10.4 per cent) and India (7.6 per cent), and a 7.8 per cent bump in cargo traffic.