Heathrow is seen as the leading airport not just in London but in the whole of the UK and figures for revenue and passenger numbers for the first quarter of 2014 show that this success is continuing. An increase of retail income per passenger from £6.33 to £6.36 may not sound like much at first but when traveller traffic has increased 0.5% to 16 million – a figure that is attributed to the late Easter – this leads to some impressive gains. In total, the airport made £576 million in the last four months, which means that revenue was up 10.8% on the following year. To top this good news off, passenger satisfaction rates were also up. Naturally, the bosses at Heathrow Airport Limited are very happy with the news and CEO Colin Matthews has gone on record praising the strong figures and the way they are “reflecting steady operational improvement.”
2014 is far from over and the year looks set to get even better.
Of course this does not mean that those in charge of Heathrow are simply looking back on a job well done and celebrating, they are also looking towards further growth and success for the rest of the 2014 and beyond. Matthews went on to talk about the potential of Heathrow and its “strength as a global hub” as something to be built upon further so they can connect the rest of the UK to other competitive markets. The figures for the first quarter may suggest that this is already quite likely but two major developments could push passenger numbers, passenger satisfaction and subsequent revenue even further if successful. On June 4th, the airport will be unveiling Terminal 2: The Queen's Terminal and there are plans that will soon be submitted to the Airport's Commission for a third runway for even more traffic. While the latter is a long way from becoming a reality, Terminal 2 is on time – and on budget – and should mean significant increases on the current figures of the first quarter.