Heathrow Sees ‘Early Signs of Softness’ in Transatlantic Business Travel

London airport Heathrow said Friday (June 27) that it is seeing “early signs of softness” in business travel from the U.S. due to economic uncertainty across North America.

Heathrow said this in an investor report that found that the airport saw growth in U.S. passenger and cargo volumes during the first five months of the year compared with the same period in 2024.

“We have observed some early signs of softness on business-heavy routes but that trend appears to be linked more to economic uncertainty than geopolitical reasons,” the report said. “In contrast, leisure-led routes operated by home-based carriers remain constant.”

Overall, across all its traffic, Heathrow said in the report that it saw passenger numbers increase 0.5% in January through May compared to the same period a year earlier, and that it expects those numbers to increase 0.5% for the full year 2025 as well.

The airport attributed the growth to strong leisure demand, despite the uncertain economy, and growing traffic from Latin America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.

It added that it will continue to closely monitor traffic trends from the U.S., adding that this market has become “more challenging,” because of economic uncertainty.

“Transatlantic travel remains a core strength in our network however, we acknowledge the overhanging uncertainty in this market and we continue to monitor airline and passenger behaviour closely as the summer progresses,” the report said.

It was reported June 15 that fewer travelers passed through U.S. airports in the previous 90 days than in the same timeframe in 2024, marking the first time air travel had begun to dip since the height of the COVID pandemic.

The report attributed the decline to American travelers delaying or scaling back their vacations in an uncertain economic climate.

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) said in April that it found that 29% of global travel buyers expected their companies to reduce their travel volume in 2025 and that 37% of travel suppliers and travel management company professionals expected their business travel-related revenue to decline during the year.

GBTA attributed this cautious outlook to U.S. government tariffs, cross-border policies and entry restrictions.