Heathrow record – but queues get longer

A RECORD 262,000 passengers flew in or out of Heathrow last Sunday, making it the busiest day in the airport’s history.

More than 7.8m passengers passed through the gates during the month, fuelled by larger, fuller aircraft to the US and new services to Asia-Pacific.

Nine new routes to Chinese destinations have opened over the past two years, with Hainan, Tianjin and Beijing Capital airlines connecting the UK to Changsha, Xi’an and Qingdao.

However, the airport’s chief executive John Holland-Kaye said passengers’ experience was still blighted by long passport control queues. He wants more passengers to be able to use e-gates.

He said: ‘It’s brilliant to see even more international visitors coming to the UK and supercharging the country’s economy this summer.

‘However, too often their first impression of the UK is a long queue for immigration.

‘The Home Office should let visitors from low risk countries, such as the US, use the same e-gates as EU visitors to give them a warm welcome.’

This week, British Airways boss Alex Cruz hit out at long queues, calling on the Home Office to end the ‘border farce’.

Cruz said Heathrow missed its target for non-EEA arrivals 8,298 times, and had already missed its target more than 6,000 times this year.

Targets are for an up-to-25minute wait for British and EU passengers, and up to 45 minutes for non-Europeans. It is understood they were met 95pc of the time between January and June. However, passengers have occasionally been waiting in line for three hours.

Heathrow also faces legal action as a group of local councils challenges the new runway planned for the airport.