Ranked: The 24 Heathrow Routes With Over a Million Passengers in 2023

11.01.2024 - 18:17 / skift.com / Gordon Smith / London

If you’re feeling a little exhausted after the holiday season, spare a thought for the teams at Heathrow Airport. The London hub has just reported its busiest-ever December, even surpassing its pre-pandemic highs – a fact certain to delight its latest investors, as well as its new CEO.

The airport boasts links to more than 200 global destinations, but there are certain flights that do a lot of the heavy lifting. With 2023 in the rearview mirror, can confirm the 24 routes that broke the million-passenger milestone last year. Spoiler alert: there are two new entries. 

Before we dive into the route ranking, here are the big numbers you need to know. More than 6.6 million travelers passed through the airport in December alone, representing an average of 216,000 each day. 

December 22 was the busiest day of the season, with almost a quarter of a million passengers flying in or out. Even Christmas Day itself was steady, with 142,000 travelers onboard almost 800 flights, making it the busiest December 25 in Heathrow’s 78-year history. 

There was good news too for British Airways. The carrier’s home at Terminal 5 served 2.6 million passengers in December. This contributed towards the facility’s busiest ever year since opening in 2008, with more than 33 million travelers passing through its doors. 

All of this helped lift Heathrow’s annual total for 2023 to 79 million. A very welcome boost from the Covid-19 slump years, but still short of 2019 when 80.9 passengers used the airport.

The recent boom in transatlantic travel continued into December with 1.6 million passengers flying to and from North America. Services linking Heathrow with New York JFK carried the most traffic overall, further solidifying its status as one of the world’s busiest air routes. The bumper December also helped secure JFK’s place at the top of the annual ranking, with more than three million customers carried throughout the year.

Services to and from the United States represented six of the 24 routes that carried more than a million passengers last year. Los Angeles was in fifth place with Chicago, San Francisco, and Newark also in the exclusive club. Boston is one of two new entries for 2023, with the millionth traveler being recorded in December. The only other North American city to make the cut was Toronto, which was in 13th place.

Heathrow’s enormous exposure to the Middle Eastern market delivered a podium finish for two major hubs. Dubai came in second place behind JFK, with the Qatari capital of Doha in third. Emirates alone operates six Airbus A380 superjumbos every day between Dubai and Heathrow, with British Airways also serving the route. Qatar Airways also has a huge presence at the London airport, with up to seven daily