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Facts and figures

Facts and figures

Heathrow is Britain's busiest airport, serving millions of passengers every year. Find out some top facts and figures, from the length of the runway to the number of tonnes of cargo shipped through the airport every year. 
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19.4 million passengers travelled through Heathrow in 2021

Flights and passenger numbers

In 2021 Heathrow served 19.4 millions passengers, that's an average of 128,178 every day. Last year (2021), 87.6% of our passengers were international (17.0 million) versus 12.4% of passengers who were domestic (2.4 million). Most of these passengers were travelling for leisure (62%, 12.0 million) versus for business (28%, 7.4 million). 

The busiest year ever recorded was 2019 when 80.9 million passengers travelled through our airport. 

Last year (2021) there were 195,340 air transport movements at Heathrow. On average, that’s 536 flights arriving or departing every day.  

Destinations

From Heathrow you can fly to 214 destinations across 84 countries. And you have 89 airlines to choose from. View our destinations. 

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Dubai was the most popular destination to fly to from Heathrow in 2021
Most popular destinations

  1. Dubai

  2. New York (JFK)

  3. Madrid

  4. Dublin

  5. Doha

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Cargo

Heathrow is the UK’s largest port by value with a network of over 218 destinations worldwide. Our top cargo export destinations include the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates. 

Last year (2022) Heathrow handled 1.4 million tonnes of cargo. Our top products exported were books, salmon and medicine.

Find out more

About the airport 

In total, Heathrow measures 1,227 hectares. The airport has two runways, the Northern Runway which is 3,902 metres by 50 metres and the Southern Runway which is 3,658 metres by 50 metres.

  • Number of aircraft stands served by an airbridge: 192
  • Number of remote stands: 97
  • Number of cargo stands: 15
  • Height of control tower: 87m (285ft)

 

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Terminal 2

Terminal 2, also known as the “Queen’s terminal”, was opened in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II herself. Terminal 2 measures 40,000 square metres and was designed to be sustainable, with 124 solar panels on the roof. In 2018, Terminal 2 became our first terminal to run on green gas. Last year (2021) 6.1 million passengers travelled through Terminal 2 on 65,839 flights.

 
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Terminal 3

Terminal 3 opened in 1961 and was originally named the Oceanic Terminal. The terminal housed the UK's first ever moving walkways. It now measures 98,962 square metres and last year (2021) saw 2.8 million passengers travelling through the terminal on 28,288 flights.

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Terminal 4

Terminal 4 was opened in 1986 by Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Measuring 105,481 square metres, the terminal was originally the home of British Airways before they moved most of their operation to Terminal 5. In 2021, 0.002 million passengers travelled through Terminal 4 on 513 flights.

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Terminal 5

Terminal 5 opened in 2008 and more than 60,000 people were involved in building it. The terminal measures 353,020 square metres which is the same size as 50 football pitches. In 2021, 10.5 million passengers travelled through Terminal 5 on 92,925 flights. 

Where's Terminal 1?

You may be wondering why there's no Terminal 1. The old Terminal 1 closed in 2015, to make space for further expansion of Terminal 2.

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Heathrow history

Did you know?

Heathrow officially opened as a commercial airport on 31 May 1946. At the time the passenger terminals were made from ex-military marquees that formed a ‘tented village’ along the Bath Road.

Read about our history