Key Statistics
Here are some Key Facts about London Heathrow Airport.
- Heathrow employs 72,000 people directly at Heathrow and sustains over 100,000 jobs in the area and a further many hundreds of thousands of jobs across the UK where workers and businesses are dependent on this our only viable international hub airport.
- Heathrow still has two runways, and has not increased runway capacity since 1946.
- Heathrow is now running at 99% capacity. Efficient use of existing runways would eliminate what has been dubbed 'Heathrow hassle', reducing delays for customers.
- Heathrow is busy but it is not competing with many European airports. Frankfurt, Munich, Madrid and Amsterdam all have more runways than Heathrow and are running at approximately 75% capacity.
- Heathrow is the airport of choice of UK business: more business travellers prefer flights from Heathrow than Gatwick, Luton, Stansted and London City combined (Oxford Economic Forecasting 2002).
- Has brought blue chip firms to business parks in the Thames Valley and West London, many of which have sited their global or regional headquarters there.
- Heathrow is by far the UK's largest port of entry for overseas visitors. 75% of the £11 billion spent by such visitors each year is spent by those arriving by air.
- Heathrow handles some £50 billion worth of cargo each year.
- Heathrow facilitates direct investment in and inbound tourism to the UK regions.