Europe’s busiest air hub anticipates continued growth this year despite capacity constraints and the ongoing effort to secure major expansion.
Britain’s Heathrow Airport said it expects to welcome about 85 million travellers in 2026, representing a 0.6 percent increase compared with the roughly 84.5 million who passed through its terminals in 2025. This forecast reflects steady demand for travel even as the airport operates close to its current infrastructure limits.
The forecast comes at a pivotal time for Heathrow’s long-term capacity plans. The airport is advancing its £33 billion bid to build a third runway, which has entered a formal planning phase following government approval in principle. A parliamentary vote later this year and planning consents by 2029 are needed before construction can begin, with operations from the new runway targeted around 2035.
Heathrow’s two-runway layout currently places it at capacity relative to continental rivals such as Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt and Amsterdam’s Schiphol, which each operate with more runways and higher traffic throughput. That limits the pace at which Heathrow can grow passenger volumes.
While the outlook for 2026 points to modest growth, the broader UK aviation market is also expanding. Recent figures show that passenger traffic across all UK airports reached a record 302 million in 2025, surpassing pre-pandemic totals and suggesting robust demand for air travel nationwide.
The forecast rise at Heathrow underlines resilience in travel demand and underscores the airport’s ongoing push for regulatory support and investment to expand capacity and maintain its status as a leading global transport hub.
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