Heathrow achieved record passenger numbers of 6.1 million to give the London hub its busiest June on record.
The numbers were 6.3% ahead of the same month last year, parent company BAA reported today.
Numbers were suppressed last June due to industrial action at British Airways. Removing the effects of this, Heathrow achieved underlying growth of around 3.8%.
Heathrow’s growth in the month was driven by long-haul traffic and a strengthening transfer performance, BAA said.
Group wide traffic was up 4.4% to 9.9 million in June with BAA’s six airports handling a total of 9.9 million passengers.
Within this, Stansted’s traffic was down by 3.3% on last year and there was little change at Southampton (down 0.8%).
BAA’s three Scottish airports saw an increase in passengers with the fastest growth recorded at Aberdeen (up 10.1%). Edinburgh was up by 7.6% and Glasgow 2.6%.
North Atlantic traffic has been a key driver of Heathrow’s recent performance with an increase in flights to US destinations, which include the world’s most popular intercontinental route between London and New York JFK.
Brazil was the strongest performing individual market, seeing a 65.4% growth in passengers over June 2010.
An increasing proportion of passengers on these long-haul flights at Heathrow are transferring from other services, according to BAA. For May, the last month for which data is available, 36.4% of passengers changed planes at the airport.
“Without transfer passengers to balance the peaks and troughs of local demand load factors could not be maintained and airlines would find it hard to continue to fly to all but the most popular destinations,” BAA said.
“This has helped Heathrow to remain robust through the downturn in aviation, providing the UK’s economy with a precious advantage in global connectivity, supporting British jobs and exports.”
Chief executive Colin Matthews said: “Heathrow’s position as the UK’s only hub airport enables it to benefit from growth in long-haul routes and emerging economies. June’s passenger figures are an early indication of a busy summer, and we will focus on delivering the best possible service standards at our most popular time of year.”