- Heathrow handled 7.1m passengers in May.
- Passenger numbers fell 1.2pc year on year.
- 22 May recorded 262000 passengers.
- Middle East traffic declined 31pc.
- Total air transport movements reached 40410.
Heathrow passenger numbers for May were 7,121,000, down 1.2pc on 2025 and up 5.2pc on pre-pandemic. Rolling annual is 84,683,289, up slightly by 0.8pc on the twelve months to May 2025. It follows growth of 2.2pc in January, 1.9pc in February and 6.9pc in mach, and a drop of 5.3pc in April.
Domestic passenger numbers declined 1.9pc while those from the Middle East dropped 31pc.
The figures marked an improvement on the 5.3pc drop recorded in April. Heathrow achieved its busiest ever day for May with 262000 passengers on 22 May at the start of school half term holidays. Passenger numbers from January to May 2026 reached 32767k with 0.7pc growth.
Terminal passengers in May 2026 totalled 7121k. EU traffic stood at 2574k with 2.1pc change. North America recorded 1913k passengers.
Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye shared “Heathrow has kept Britain connected for 80 years but today we operate at capacity.”
Full year 2025
For the full year 2025, Heathrow handled a record 84.5m passengers, surpassing 84m for the first time and exceeding the pre-pandemic peak of 2019. This represents a 0.7pc increase on 2024 and cements Heathrow’s position as Europe’s busiest airport. December 2025 was also the airport’s busiest December ever.
The strong rebound reflects sustained demand for both leisure and business travel, improved operational efficiency, and Heathrow’s role as England’s primary global hub. With capacity constraints limiting faster growth, the airport is forecasting around 85m passengers in 2026 while investing heavily in passenger experience.
Peak months were, expectedly, July 2025 (7,981,137) and August 2025 (8,035,996) were the strongest, reflecting the height of the European summer holiday season, but the shoulder months of April–June and September–October consistently delivered solid volumes above 7m. January and February remain the quietest (around 5.7–6.5m), turning in a new record for February.
Heathrow has made a robust recovery since the COVID-19 pandemic lows of 2020–2021 (when annual passengers dropped below 20–22m). Key milestones include:
- 2019 (pre-pandemic peak): 80.9m passengers.
- 2024: 83.9m passengers, already well above 2019 levels.
- 2025: Record 84.5m passengers, the busiest year in Heathrow’s history, up 0.7pc on 2024 and roughly 4.4pc above the 2019 benchmark.
November and December 2025 showed healthy volumes, with December 2025 (7,188,658) contributing to the airport’s busiest December ever.
