Heathrow claimed a 5.5% increase in passengers last month compared with July 2012 underlined the urgent need for more capacity at London’s premier hub.
The airport handled 6.9 million passengers in July, but it admitted the growth was largely attributable to a fall in traffic in July last year as a result of the timing of the London Olympics.
It said load factors continued to be high and the average aircraft size continued to increase, rising 2.9% to 203.5 seats. The average number of passengers on each flight rose 5% to 168.5, pushing load factors to 82.8%, a 1.7 percentage point increase year on year.
East Asia traffic saw the biggest rise, up 18.9%, largely as a result of more capacity. Latin America was up 5.9%, with most growth coming from additional capacity on services to Mexico.
European traffic continued to see the effects of British Airways’ integration with BMI, up 8.9%.
Heathrow chief executive Colin Matthews, said: "Our passenger figures underline the UK’s urgent need for a single hub airport with the capacity to meet the demand for links to emerging economies.
"The best solution for taxpayers, passengers and business is to build on the strength we already have at Heathrow."
Meanwhile, Edinburgh saw its busiest ever month on record in July when over one million passengers used the airport, a 13.1% increase year on year. Domestic traffic was up 12.8% and international was up 13.3%.
Chief executive Gordon Dewar said: "The success in July was down to a number of factors, but central to it is the fact that this is our schedule and not a hangover from our previous owners (BAA). We fixed the issues and that work is now bearing fruit."
