At least that would seem to be the case, if the latest reports coming from BAA – Heathrow Airport’s owner – are true. And they do seem to be.
Apparently the latest round of news reports indicates that the month of July has been brilliant for Heathrow. Does this mean the recession is starting to draw to a close? Perhaps the worst is now over? If flying to various destinations in this country and abroad is now becoming more popular again, it would certainly seem to point to a better and brighter future for Heathrow. That is particularly the case on the evidence given here.
We hate to be pessimistic but we need to look at this from all sides though. The most obvious factor at play here is the holiday season. It has been suggested in the past that there may not be as many people going abroad this year. The recession has obviously led to job losses and reduced incomes for a lot of people. This in turn has led many to speculate that foreign holidays would be one of the first casualties of the recession.
This has indeed happened to an extent. But it seems that July was the month where enough people felt confident about paying to go abroad to make a change to Heathrow’s figures.
It would appear though that the pattern has not been repeated elsewhere. So what is it about Heathrow that makes it the place to go to at the moment when heading out of the country?
Obviously it is a big airport and that counts for a lot. It can provide transport links to many different locations and countries. It is also reasonably centrally located, and its size gives it a big catchment area too.
Six and a half million passengers went through Heathrow during July, so it is clear that some people are starting to find the money to travel to wherever they want to go. We would expect to see an increase in traffic at this time of year – but will it continue throughout the coming months?
That is the big question at the moment. Despite the success of July at Heathrow Airport, BAA is still operating at a huge loss overall. The question now is where things will go from here. For now Heathrow will no doubt be making the most of the increased traffic that is heading through. From there they can focus on what may or may not happen as the summer ends and we start thinking about Christmas.
At the moment at least, they can expect good numbers for August as well. So no matter what happens during the rest of the year, Heathrow Airport would certainly benefit from two good months. And perhaps by then the recession will have receded enough to give people the confidence to continue using air travel once more.
If that happens then Heathrow will certainly make better use of their new terminal – and look towards that new runway as well.