OREANDA-NEWS. A record 7.05 million passengers travelled through Heathrow in August 2014, an increase of 1.3% on August 2013, making it Heathrow's busiest ever month and the first time the airport has handled more than 7 million passengers in a single month

With growth boosted by the summer months, 17th of August also saw Heathrow's record busiest day, with 241,412 passengers passing through the terminals

Larger, fuller aircraft continue to drive passenger numbers at Heathrow. Seats per aircraft increased 0.5% to 205.2, while load factors increased 1 percentage point to 83.7%. Passengers per aircraft rose 1.7% to 171.8

Within emerging markets, Mexico was up 15.3%, China was up 9.3% and India was up 3.7%

Cargo was up 7.5% overall, increasing 58% to Turkey, 33% to Russia, 32% to Brazil, 30% to Mexico and 16% to China

Highlighting the critical role links to emerging markets play in the UK's long-term sustainable growth, the CBI described Britain's lack of hub capacity as a “ticking time bomb”, calling on the Airports Commission to deliver a single hub solution as the only way to boost connections with the export markets of tomorrow

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said:

“Record passenger numbers and strong cargo performance to emerging markets underline why British business is backing Heathrow. Heathrow is the only expansion option capable of delivering direct links to emerging markets like China that will be critical to future jobs, trade and economic growth in the UK.”