Heathrow reported record-breaking passenger volumes last November, with one key route dominating the skies – and it’s not a short-haul flight
Heathrow Airport had a record-breaking year in 2024, marking its busiest November to date by serving 6.5 million passengers in the single month. Addressing the record November numbers, Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye said: “This year has been all about providing high levels of service for record amounts of passengers at Heathrow.”
Unsurprisingly for the UK’s busiest airport, passenger volumes have been steadily on the rise. Though traffic data indicates a shift in traveller demand. Last year saw a 6.5% year-to-date increase in passenger volumes compared to 2023, with notable growth in connecting regions like the Middle East (up 6.6%) and Asia Pacific (up 11.4%), indicating an increasing demand for these leisure and business travel markets. However, there is one UK flight route—outside of the EU, Asia and the Middle East—that continues to dominate.
Known as the “Billion Dollar Route”, the New York JFK to London Heathrow flight service remains one of the busiest in the world. The flight path acquired its nickname in 2019, after being the only flight path in the world to gross a billion dollars. Today, other paths have broken through the billion-dollar barrier including Sydney to Melbourne and Riyadh to Jeddah. Nevertheless, JFK to Heathrow remains the busiest and most profitable route in Europe.
According to OAG, the aviation data consultancy group, JFK to Heathrow was the busiest route in Europe in 2024, recording 4,011,235 seats. On a global scale, JFK to Heathrow was the 10th busiest route in 2024. Though it should be noted that this is a lower ranking compared to years past (reaching the 8th spot in 2019 and 2023).
The Billion Dollar Route was surpassed predominately by flights to Asia, with the path of Hong Kong to Taipei ranking 1st busiest and Seoul Incheon to Tokyo Narita ranking 3rd busiest in world. Both of these Asia flight paths experienced significant increases compared to 2023 (noting 48% and 30% increases in seats respectively). According to OAG, these increases are indicative of the region’s continued post-pandemic recovery.
The JFK to Heathrow route is currently serviced by multiple airline carriers, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and JetBlue. With each carrier flying the route multiple times a day.
New flights announced
While the Billion Dollar Route shows no significant signs of quieting, there are a few new Heathrow flights sparking interest in 2025. Beginning in May 2025, travellers will be able to fly directly from Heathrow to Salerno and Rimini on British Airways. Additionally, BA is introducing a new flight from London to Tbilisi beginning in March.
As new flight routes are introduced each year, debate surrounding Heathrow’s need to expand and modernise continues to rage on. Earlier this week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the government’s support for Heathrow’s proposed third runway. Reeves said the expansion of Europe’s busiest airport was “badly needed” to connect the UK to the world.
The government support comes a week after Luis Gallego, CEO of the International Airline Group (parent of British Airways) voiced conditional support for Heathrow’s third runway, dependent on the airport modernising its current regulatory framework.
