Heathrow welcomed its 17th consecutive record month in March, with 6.5 million passengers passing through the airport.

The figure is up 5.5 per cent year-on-year.

The Easter getaway, coupled with school half term, also saw the airport having its busiest departures day ever, with over 136,000 departing passengers travelling on March 30th.

Heathrow chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, said: “The booming growth in passenger numbers and cargo, particularly from emerging markets, underpins the urgency to secure Britain’s economic future with a third runway at Heathrow – which has now been backed by the cross-party transport select committee. 

“We are delighted that passengers have rated us one of the top ten airports worldwide, recognising the huge improvements in service we have made over the last few years.”

Long-haul, emerging destinations were some of the best performers, as the airport reported double-digit growth in African (12 per cent) and Middle Eastern markets (11 per cent).

Latin America also experienced significant growth, up 7.3 per cent.

New routes launched by Hainan Airlines and Tianjin Airlines provided the UK’s first direct connections to the growing cities of Changsha and X’ian.

Qantas also began its first direct service to Perth from Heathrow – offering the fastest route to Australia for both UK cargo and passengers.