A total of 16 million passengers passed through London Heathrow Airport in the first three months of 2013, a record for the period.

The figure represents a 1.8 per cent increase on the same period last year.

Revenue at the airport was also up 6.1 per cent, to £520 million, reflecting increased traffic and higher tariffs.

A slight increase in retail spend per passenger, up from £6.26 to £6.33, increased its net retail income to £16 million.

As a result, the airport reported pre-tax loss for the period to the end of March of £196 million, down from £232 million.

Debt was reduced by seven per cent to £10.6 billion, largely due to the sale of Stansted Airport.

Heathrow chief executive, Colin Matthews, said: “Heathrow performed strongly in the first quarter, with record passenger service scores and record financial performance.

“Strong cash flow is an important element in funding major current and future investment to improve Heathrow still further.”