Heathrow's monthly passenger numbers top 6m

More than 6m passengers travelled through Heathrow Airport in November as people headed overseas for Thanksgiving and Diwali celebrations.

Heathrow, which serves 214 destinations in 84 countries, said on Monday that a total of 6.13m people travelled through the airport last month.

That was ahead of November 2022, when it recorded 5.56m passengers, but down on October’s 6.96m. It was also just below pre-pandemic levels, with 6.23m passengers travelling through the airport in November 2019.

In the year to date, a total of 72.45m passengers have travelled through Heathrow.

More than 50,000 passengers had flown across the Atlantic the Friday before Thanksgiving, the airport noted, with departures to India proving similarly popular ahead of Diwali.

It also forecast a "strong" December, with passenger numbers set to peak in the week before Christmas.

Thomas Woldbye, chief executive, said: "Last month saw passengers travelling to celebrate Thanksgiving and Diwali with their loved ones and we are making final preparations for the Christmas getaway."

Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest airports, is thought to be close to being taken over by Saudi Arabia.

The oil-rich nation’s Public Investment Fund and French investment firm Ardian struck a deal to buy Ferrovial’s 25% stake in the airport for £2.4bn last month and according to reports, other investors are thought to be interested in selling as well.

PIF acquired 10% of the Ferrovial stake, with Ardian buying the remaining 15%. Saudi Arabia is an investor in Ardian.

The deal with Spain’s Ferrovial valued Heathrow at £9.6bn.

Other investors in Heathrow include the Qatar Investment Authority, a leading Canadian pension fund, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, the Australian Retirement Trust, the China Investment Corporation and Universities Superannuation Scheme.