Any ideas? Heathrow still slipping down world airports league
So we now have foreign owners, and rotten weather - but is there nothing that can be done to put Heathrow back at the top? Marketing ideas wanted!!
Despite all the economic turbulence, more people than ever flew last year: a staggering five billion passengers for the first time. That number "underscored the resilience of the air transport business" said Angela Gibbons, Director General of the Airports Council International.
But for Britain, there is bad news in the figures: Heathrow slipped to the fourth busiest airport. The busiest is Atlanta, Delta's hub in Georgia. No 2 is Beijing Airport, which grew 13 per cent. No 3 is Chicago's O'Hare.The reason for Beijing's rise is "the surge in demand in fast-growing Asian economies," said the ACI, with North America and Europe continuing to struggle to reach pre-crisis levels. World passenger traffic rose 6.3 percent in 2010. Cargo traffic climbed 15.2 percent. Heathrow and Las Vegas were the only airports in the top 30 where traffic was down.Europe as a whole grew 4.3 percent despite the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud last April. Answers to the Heathrow dilemma in the comment section please . . .