London Heathrow Airport (LHR) served more passengers last month than in any previous February, with traffic to all regions except Africa rising year-over-year.

 

The hub handled 5.8 million passengers in February, up 11% year-over-year. LHR says in a statement that it would have set a February record even without the 207,000 passengers who utilized the airport on Feb. 29.

 

Passenger traffic to and from the Asia-Pacific region rose 23.8% year-over-year as pandemic travel restrictions significantly eased. Traffic to the Middle East was up 15%, while LHR reports a 9.9% increase in traffic to and from the EU.

 

February LHR transatlantic traffic to and from North America rose 7.6% year-over-year, while domestic UK traffic increased 11.5%. Non-EU Europe traffic rose 14.3%, while Latin America saw a 3.3% rise. Traffic to and from Africa was flat year-over-year.

 

The EU—with February traffic of 1.9 million—and North America, with February traffic of 1.1 million passengers, continue to be LHR’s two largest international markets.

 

LHR’s cargo traffic for February totaled 127,990 metric tons, up 21.6% year-over-year, led by a 45.5% increase in Asia-Pacific traffic and a 27.9% rise in Middle East traffic. All regions saw cargo traffic rises.

 

LHR’s Africa cargo traffic increased 22.1%, while Latin America cargo traffic rose 21.1%. North America remained LHR’s largest cargo market with 47,864 metric tons carried to and from the airport, though the year-over-year February increase was the smallest among regions at 7.6%.