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Heathrow airport on Monday reported an annual decline in passenger traffic in June, as a World Cup boost to travel to North America was more than offset by a drop in flyers to the war-torn Middle East. The west London airport reported 7.2 million terminal passengers last month, down 1.8% on a year before. Travel to and from the Middle East fell by 26% to 468,000 passengers, as the US-Israeli war on Iran dragged into its fourth month. Travel to and from North America, where the World Cup football tournament is being hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, increased 1.2% to 2.0 million passengers. Asia-Pacific was another growth destination, with 927,000 passengers, up 2.5% on a year before. But EU travel edged down 0.1% to 2.6 million passengers. Africa travel was down 1.4% and Latin America travel down 1.9%. In the entire first half of 2026, Heathrow handled 40.0 million passengers, up 0.2% on a year before. This was led by the EU, with 13.5 million passengers, up 2.7%, while the Middle East accounted for 3.1 million, down 25%. ‘It’s been a strong end to the first half of 2026, despite the challenges presented by the situation in the Middle East,’ said Heathrow Chief Executive Officer Thomas Woldbye. ‘Sustained growth in North American and Asia-Pacific coupled with climbing cargo volumes demonstrates the strength of demand for global connectivity,’ Woldbye said, as he again pitched for UK government support for a third runway at Heathrow. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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