The variety of passengers travelling by way of Heathrow has returned to pre-pandemic ranges for the primary time since virus lockdowns started, the airport has mentioned.

In September this yr 7.1 million individuals travelled by way of the UK’s largest airport, a excessive not seen since February 2020, earlier than COVID-19 restrictions had been applied.

The visitors numbers are forward of the 2019 pre-pandemic yr and up 22% on final yr, Heathrow mentioned in a buying and selling replace on Wednesday morning.

The airport had struggled to recoup visitors ranges as enterprise and lengthy haul journey had been slower to get better than passenger numbers from European international locations.

Most latest figures, for September and the yr as much as final month, present the vast majority of individuals coming by way of Heathrow had been from Europe.

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In the yr from October to September greater than 25.4 million individuals travelled from Europe with the second biggest quantity, 19.4 million, coming from the United States.

The third biggest supply of visitors within the yr was the Asia Pacific area: 9.1 million individuals from the world got here by way of the airport.

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So far in 2023, 59.3 million passengers have travelled by way of Heathrow. For the yr as much as September the traveller depend is 76.7 million.

Airlines corresponding to easyJet and Ryanair have recovered faster. In November final yr easyJet mentioned its bookings returned to pre-COVID-19 ranges, whereas Ryanair reported record passenger numbers the identical month.

Heathrow reached the milestone within the final month-to-month replace overseen by chief govt John Holland-Kaye.

Mr Holland-Kaye will hand over the job to Thomas Woldbye on 18 October after being in cost for almost a decade.

He mentioned: “It has been a privilege to lead the very talented team which, in less than a decade, transformed Heathrow into a hub airport that the whole nation can be proud of.

“We have constructed a strong legacy for my successor – Heathrow is now a customer support enterprise, with a transparent path to internet zero by 2050 and a plan to develop and to attach all of Britain to world progress.”