Heathrow has claimed a smooth Easter holiday getaway despite a strike by security staff.
The bank holiday long weekend followed the London hub handling more than 6.2m passengers in March, up by one million on the previous month.
Heathrow described Friday, March 31 – the start of the Easter school holidays – as one of its busiest days since pre-pandemic 2019, with 221,606 passengers travelling through the airport.
An airport statement said: “Service levels were excellent, in spite of this being the first day of industrial action by Unite.
“Our strong contingency plans have kept the airport running smoothly throughout the strike period.
“We have listened to colleagues on the pay offer and have proposed changes they have asked for. This is a materially different proposal, which we believe Unite should let their members have a say on.”
Terminal 5, used exclusively by British Airways and targeted for the Unite union industrial action, marked 15 years of operations in March during which time it has handled almost 400 million passengers.
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: “I am very proud of the way that colleagues have pulled together to ensure passengers got away smoothly on their Easter holidays.
“Our security team has done a brilliant job, supported by our entire management team who have been ‘here to help’ in the terminals. Many passengers have told me that we exceeded their expectations.”