Abu Dhabi joins Heathrow's 'millionaire club' with record passenger numbers

UAE capital joins cities that see more than a million passengers a year fly to and from London airport

Heathrow Airport had a record November and is expecting passenger traffic to be 21 per cent higher on Christmas Day. Reuters

Abu Dhabi has joined Heathrow's 2024 “millionaire club” after passenger traffic between the London airport and Zayed International exceeded a million for the year to the end of November. Seven other cities joined the club in November, including Singapore, Edinburgh, Lisbon, Chicago, Zurich, Mumbai and Paris.

Although Heathrow did not release passenger numbers for the specific airports in the club, it has 23 members, led by New York's JFK and closely followed by Dubai International. By the end of the year, Heathrow is expecting the millionaire club's membership to grow to 25.

Heathrow announced record passenger numbers for November with 6.5 million passing through the airport in that month, a 6.1 per cent rise from November last year. It also predicted its busiest festive season, forecasting a 21 per cent increase in passenger traffic on Christmas Day alone, compared to last year.

From January to the end of November, 7.7 million from destinations in the Middle East passed through Heathrow, which is Europe's busiest airport, an increase of 6.4 per cent on the same period in 2023.

“This year has been all about providing high levels of service for record amounts of passengers at Heathrow, and November was no different,” the airport's chief executive Thomas Woldbye said. “As we embrace the festive season, our focus remains on ensuring smooth, joyful journeys – whether it is helping passengers get away for Christmas to reunite with their loved ones, or making sure cargo reaches its destination on time. We aim to make this holiday season magical for those travelling through Heathrow.”

In terms of cargo, Heathrow remains the UK's largest port by value and has seen 1.4 million tonnes pass through between January and November this year, an 11 per cent increase on the same period in 2023. Heathrow said the rise in the total cargo figures was down to greater carrying capacities in passenger aircraft and stronger demand in the market.

Concerns ahead for UK airports

In October, Heathrow told The National it was encouraged by the Labour government's view that aviation is essential for economic growth and that the airport itself plays a “vital role”. However, there has been some concern within the sector of late. Airport bosses in the UK recently raised concern about the government's plan to raise tax revenue by increasing the business rates of companies with large properties from April 2026. The idea is to increase levies for businesses with sizeable warehouses, such as Amazon, to pay for a tax cut for high street retailers. But UK airports feel they will be unfairly caught in the same tax net as the big online retailers.

Lobby group AirportsUK said the reforms could lead to a five-fold increase in business rates for Britain's airports, rising from the current £350 million to more than £1 billion annually.