By Daniel Hunter
According to the latest BAA data it would appear many people opted to stay at home to watch the Olympics, with July data for July 2012 being 4.1% down on the year before.
There was a drop of 4.4% at Heathrow to 6.6m passengers. The drop was more pronounced in the second half of the month and it is likely that the Olympics played a part, with UK passengers staying at home as well as non-Olympic visitors from overseas choosing to defer their journeys.
Those that chose to travel enjoyed a good experience at Heathrow, with a record breaking month for customer satisfaction. The airport’s monthly survey asks passengers to rate their experience on a scale of 1-5, where 5 is excellent and 4 very good. In July, arrivals scored a record 4.3. Departures scored 4.22, the second highest departures score ever and a record for July.
Within the Heathrow figures, domestic traffic saw an increase of 1.2% compared with last year, whilst European scheduled traffic, significantly affected by the Olympics, fell 6.6%. North Atlantic traffic remained almost unchanged (+0.1%), whilst other long haul routes had a collective decline of 6.3%. Within that passenger numbers to and from India dropped 11% but Brazil saw an increase of 15% and China 3.4%.
“We are proud to have played our part in giving the very best welcome to London 2012 to athletes and visitors alike," BAA Chief Executive, Colin Matthews, said.
"Seven years of hard work and planning, the warmth and enthusiasm of more than a thousand volunteers and additional Border Force staff produced our strongest ever passenger satisfaction scores.”
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