Abu Dhabi joins Heathrow's 'millionaire club' with record passenger numbers

Abu Dhabi has joined Heathrow's 2024 “millionaire club” after passenger traffic between the London airport and Zayed International exceeded a million for the year to the end of November. Seven other cities joined the club in November, including Singapore, Edinburgh, Lisbon, Chicago, Zurich, Mumbai and Paris. Although Heathrow did not release passenger numbers for the specific airports in the club, it has 23 members, led by New York's JFK and closely followed by Dubai International. By the end of the year, Heathrow is expecting the millionaire club's membership to grow to 25. Heathrow announced record passenger numbers for November with 6.5m passing through the airport in that month, a 6.1% rise from November last year. It also predicted its busiest festive season, forecasting a 21% increase in passenger traffic on Christmas Day alone, compared to last year. From January to the end of November, 7.7m from destinations in the Middle East passed through Heathrow, which is Europe's busiest airport, an increase of 6.4% on the same period in 2023. “This year has been all about providing high levels of service for record amounts of passengers at Heathrow, and November was no different,” the airport's CE Thomas Woldbye said. “As we embrace the festive season, our focus remains on ensuring smooth, joyful journeys – whether it is helping passengers get away for Christmas to reunite with their loved ones, or making sure cargo reaches its destination on time. We aim to make this holiday season magical for those travelling through Heathrow.”<br/>