London Heathrow Airport (LHR) enjoyed a fruitful June, with the facility’s latest figures showing that long-haul demand from football fans jetting off to watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the US made a difference to its traffic levels. Most notably, the West London hub handled almost two million passengers on flights to and from North America, representing a year-on-year increase.
While English supporters likely represented the bulk of the football fans who flew from Heathrow to North America last month, the airport was also keen to highlight its position as a transit hub for those flying from elsewhere. Heathrow advertises itself as the best-connected hub for US flights, and passengers are clearly buying into its prominence on this front, given that transfer traffic is up by 3%.
According to the latest data published today by London Heathrow Airport, the UK’s largest and busiest air hub handled a grand total of 1.965 million guests on flights to and from destinations in North America in June of 2026. Compared to the same month in 2025, this marked a 1.2% annual increase, with Heathrow adding that June was the “second consecutive month of increased travel to the region.”
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup now in its latter stages and three of the four remaining teams being from Europe, Heathrow is positioning itself as the go-to hub for last-minute tournament travel. However, away from the passenger side of things, June was also a big month for cargo at Heathrow, with “trade with North America [having] increased 6% year-on-year.” Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye explained that:
“It’s been a strong end to the first half of 2026. (…) Sustained growth in [the] North American and Asia-Pacific [markets], coupled with climbing cargo volumes, demonstrates the strength of demand for global connectivity.”
Which Airlines Scheduled The Most North American Flights At Heathrow In June?
According to data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, ten different airlines scheduled a grand total of 8,845 flights to and from North America at London Heathrow Airport last month. Collectively speaking, these services offered more than 2.28 million seats, meaning that, when offset against the 1.965 million passengers that flew on them, they averaged load factors in excess of 86.1%.
Naturally, hometown hero British Airways was the top operator on this front, accounting for 3,202 flights and more than 882,000 seats. It was followed by fellow UK airline Virgin Atlantic, with 1,340 flights and over 389,000 seats. There was little to separate US rivals American and United Airlines, with 1,260 and 1,200 flights respectively, although the former clearly outshone the latter in seats (343,200 vs 267,631).
Contrastingly, fellow US ‘big three’ carrier Delta was way behind, offering 583 flights and over 150,000 seats. This put it just ahead of Air Canada, with 540 flights, although the latter had more seats (169,317). Rounding out London Heathrow Airport’s ten operators of North America-bound flights were JetBlue (180 / 24,840), Aeromexico (60 / 16,099), Alaska Airlines (60 / 18,000), and WestJet (60 / 19,200).
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Norse Atlantic Will Fly England Fans To Atlanta Tomorrow For The Semi-Final
On Wednesday, July 15, England will face old rivals Argentina at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, in the second semi-final at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The winner will face the victor of Tuesday’s matchup between France and Spain in Dallas, and excitement levels are through the roof. With this in mind, Norse Atlantic Airways is looking to cash in on late demand with a flight to Atlanta.
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Indeed, the carrier put tickets on sale on Sunday for a round-trip from London Gatwick (LGW) to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). Operated by a 338-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, the flight will depart at 7:40 PM on June 14, landing in Atlanta at 11:30 PM. After the game on Wednesday, the return leg will leave Atlanta at 10:30 PM on Thursday, reaching London at 11:25 AM the next day.
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