Heathrow Airport handled 1.97 million passengers travelling to and from North America in June 2026, driven in part by demand from football fans heading to the FIFA World Cup. The figure represents a 1.2% year-on-year increase and marks the second successive month of growth on the transatlantic corridor, with flight movements to the region also rising by 1% compared with the same period last year.

The 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, has generated significant interest from European supporters, many of whom are making last-minute travel arrangements as the tournament enters its latter stages. As the UK’s primary international gateway and its best-connected hub to the United States, Heathrow is well placed to accommodate that surge in demand. Transfer traffic through the airport grew by more than 3% in June, reflecting its role as a connecting hub for passengers travelling from across Britain and Europe.

Cargo and Trade Volumes Also Rise

The commercial benefits of the North America corridor extended beyond passenger travel. Trade volumes between Heathrow and North America rose 6% year-on-year in June, contributing to total cargo throughput at the airport of nearly 135,000 metric tonnes for the month — up almost 4% on a year earlier. Heathrow processed more than 54,000 tonnes of cargo to and from North America alone during the month, a rise of 6.3%. The airport handled nearly £300 billion worth of British trade in 2025, which it describes as making it the country’s most valuable port by goods value.

Asia-Pacific emerged as Heathrow’s fastest-growing major market in June, with passenger numbers rising 2.5% and cargo volumes surging 11.7% year-on-year. For the first half of 2026, Asia-Pacific passenger numbers were up 7.9% compared with the same period in 2025, reflecting growing demand for long-haul connectivity to markets including India, China and Australia.

Middle East Disruption Drags on Overall Figures

Despite the positive performances in North America and Asia-Pacific, overall passenger numbers at Heathrow fell 1.8% year-on-year in June to 7.2 million, principally due to a sharp decline in Middle Eastern traffic. Flights to and from the Middle East dropped 26.2% in passenger terms and 28.9% in air transport movements during the month, reflecting ongoing regional instability. Middle East cargo volumes fell 13.7% in June and were down 15% for the first half of the year.

Across the first six months of 2026, Heathrow welcomed 40 million passengers in total, a modest 0.2% increase on the equivalent period in 2025, demonstrating overall resilience in the face of the Middle East headwinds. The rolling 12-month total to June 2026 stood at 84.5 million passengers.

Passengers using the airport in the coming weeks can expect improved processing times following the installation of new security scanners across all terminals. The technology, which uses computed tomography imaging, allows travellers to leave liquids and laptops inside their bags, removing the need for the tray-based unpacking that has long been a feature of airport security queues. Heathrow says wait times have been consistently kept below five minutes since the rollout.

Airport Renews Call for Third Runway Approval

Heathrow’s chief executive Thomas Woldbye used the June traffic results to reiterate the airport’s case for expansion. The long-running proposal for a third runway at Heathrow — first recommended by the government-commissioned Airports Commission in 2015 — has faced repeated political and legal delays over the past decade, though the current government has signalled fresh interest in major infrastructure investment as a lever for economic growth.

Woldbye said the first half of 2026 had been strong despite the challenges posed by the situation in the Middle East.