Record-breaking month for Heathrow

Heathrow, the UK's biggest airport enjoyed a record-breaking month in November.

It handled 5.4 million passengers last month - up 3.1% on November 2011 and its best November ever.

Numbers were swelled by a slightly-later school half-term holiday, while last November saw disruption at the west London airport.

Airport bosses said taking these and other factors into account, the underlying increase last month was 0.4%.

On average, Heathrow's flights were 72.8% full last month - another record for November.

North Atlantic traffic was up 2.4% in the month and European scheduled traffic was up 7.1%.

Greek traffic continued to be down, however, with a reduction of 14.6% on November 2011.

Of the BRIC economies, passenger numbers were up 6% to Brazil, 6.2% to Russia and 12.9% to China, but down 1.3% to India.

Heathrow chief executive Colin Matthews said: "Passenger figures to the BRIC economies continue to be strong, illustrating the demand for routes to emerging markets.

"But there's more demand that the UK can't meet - because its only hub airport, Heathrow, is full."