2 runways (Northern – 3,902m x 50m; Southern – 3,658m x 50m)
80 million passengers a year (2018)
Heathrow is one of the UK’s largest single-site workplaces with 76,000 people working in 400 businesses located across airport.
Over 200 destinations served – over 80 are long haul
75% of long haul flights come from the UK
84 countries connected to Heathrow
473,000 flight movements a year (2016) – an average of 1,300 a day
1.5 million metric tonnes of cargo travel through the airport each year
2016 Skytrax Best Airport in Western Europe, World’s Best Terminal, and Best Airport Shopping winner
Heathrow Terminal 5 has won Skytrax’s World’s Best Terminal Award 5 times
70 years old – Heathrow opened in 1946 and was originally known as London Airport
30% (by value) of the UK’s exports beyond the EU and Switzerland travel through Heathrow each year
Heathrow Expansion:
The new Heathrow runway will be the first new full length runway to be built in the south east of England since World War II – the last being at Heathrow
130 million passengers per year capacity
740,000 flight movements capacity
52 expansion options were looked at during the 2.5 year, £20m, Airports Commission process before it recommended a new Heathrow north-west runway
Sources: Heathrow’s North-West Runway: Air and Ground Noise Assessment (AMEC, 2014); Heathrow analysis of Seabury Trade Database, excluding gold, diamonds and pearls (2015); Assuming Western Rail and Southern Rail Access – see Heathrow: Taking Britain Further, Volume 1 (Heathrow, 2015) in our downloads section for more information.