Today, Heathrow celebrates the first anniversary of Flybe’s inaugural flight from the UK’s only hub airport. In March 2017, the UK airline launched new services to Aberdeen and Edinburgh, increasing competition and choice for passengers on those routes, and helping Scottish businesses and passengers access over 180 global destinations via Heathrow. The airline has performed well in its first year of operations, seeing steady passenger growth and topping the airport’s ‘Fly Quiet and Green’ league table for Q4 2017, as Heathrow’s best operator in noise and emissions performance.
Just prior to Flybe’s arrival last year, Heathrow reduced domestic passenger charges by £10, making domestic routes more competitive for passengers and airlines. This January, Heathrow went one step further, applying a further £5 discount on the airport charges for UK passengers, a total domestic discount of £15 – the biggest discount in the airport’s history and resulting in savings of nearly £40 million annually and over £750 million over the next 20 years.
The anniversary coincides with the announcement that Heathrow is set to host Bringing Britain Closer – a discussion on UK connectivity with Heathrow. The event will take place in Liverpool on Wednesday 9th May , highlighting the airport’s commitment to domestic connectivity as the airport progresses its expansion project. Heathrow’s third runway is crucial to maintaining the UK’s hub status, delivering new domestic routes and connecting all of the UK to emerging markets around the world.
The event, hosted in partnership with the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, will see representatives from UK airports, airlines and the business community have the opportunity to share views on how best to ensure UK air routes thrive from an expanded Heathrow, helping British passengers and businesses connect to the world. Emma Gilthorpe, Heathrow’s Executive Director for Expansion, is confirmed to speak at the session alongside other industry leaders, on domestic routes at an expanded Heathrow and why improving connectivity matters to businesses of all sectors across the UK.
Heathrow is committed to boosting domestic flights at the UK’s hub, today and in the future; the reduction in charges for UK departing passengers is just one of the steps Heathrow is taking to strengthen the UK’s connectivity. Last September, Heathrow released a 9 point plan – Bringing Britain Closer – which sets out Heathrow’s plan to improve connectivity from the UK’s hub, including a £10m Route Development Fund to support new domestic routes once a third runway is operational, and campaigning for the abolition of Air Passenger Duty (APD) on UK routes.
Heathrow’s Director of Expansion Emma Gilthorpe, said:
“We’re delighted to be celebrating the first anniversary of Flybe’s arrival at Heathrow. At the start of the year, we announced an even bigger discount for domestic passengers, and that’s just one of the measures we’re putting in place to boost domestic travel. Heathrow has been working hard to ensure every corner of the country benefits from the growth that stems from links to the nation’s hub airport and this Connectivity Conference will help the industry fully understand how we can work together to achieve this.”
