Heathrow airport London is set to retain the title of world’s busiest airport by passenger numbers. The airport is expecting to record a total of 73.4 million passengers by the end of the year 2014. The airport has recorded 62 million passengers in the first ten months of 2014 according to recent figures from Heathrow.
Dubai International airport, Heathrow’s closest competitor, is forecasting a total of 71 million passengers by the end of the year 2014. The airport has managed to have a total of 58.4 million passengers in the first ten months of this year. Dubai International airport has still retained the world’s busiest airport title by aircraft traffic. Heathrow has lost this title due to congestion and subsequent lack of expansion at the airport.Netherlands Schiphol airport is also in the race to unseat Heathrow as the busiest airport in Europe.
Heathrow bosses have severally said that to retain the pole position in air travel and transport in the world, expansion is needed, specifically at Heathrow either by extending the current runway or building another runway to increase the number of slots that can be allocated to airlines departing and landing at the airport
Dubai, an oil poor Gulf country predicts that the aviation industry will contribute more than a third of the country’s GDP. The Gulf state has diversified the economy to many tourism ad air transport. The airport has seen continued growth from the India followed by Western Europe and Asia. The airport strategically marketed itself as the transit hub of choice for both Africa and Asia to Europe and the Americas. An investment that has paid paid off and achieved growth of their economy
