Heathrow Airport said it has become the fourth busiest airport in the world.

Some 7.0 million passengers travelled through the west London airport last month.

That is up 19% from 5.9 million during the same month last year.

During the October half-term school holiday, 2.2 million passengers passed through Heathrow’s terminals, with Dubai, New York and Los Angeles among the most popular destinations.

Last month’s total was less than 1% below the pre-pandemic figure from October 2019.

I’ve learned a lot about Heathrow in my first few weeks

Heathrow said data from aviation analytics provider OAG show it was the world’s fourth busiest airport last month.

After reopening its borders, Hong Kong became Heathrow’s 12th route to pass one million passengers for the year.

Heathrow claimed the busy October “helped to prepare us for the peak season of festive travel ahead”.

New chief executive Thomas Woldbye said: “I’ve learned a lot about Heathrow in my first few weeks, but one thing that really stands out to me is the passion and drive of colleagues to get people away smoothly on their journeys.”