…and Dover is the busiest port in the world ?

When we’re such a small country compared to others round the world.

I guess the fact that we hardly produce anything doesn’t help…

Answers on a post card please (not via airmail or sea mail )

They aren’t.

Edited with facts:
Atlanta has more movements, Dubai is busier by international passengers.

Shanghai is the busiest port by tonnage & container movements.

LHR is busiest international airport, pretty sure Chicago has more flights but most are
domestic

London is a very important world city and business hub, also we have always been one of the leaders in air travel deregulation hence many airlines and flights

Dover, not sure what the claim is but many many ports have greater volume of shipping,
Singapore, Marseilles, San Francisco …

Historical legacy re London – long haul flights, British Airways hub, close to the smoke, resulting infrastructure grows and so becomes more attractive for other airlines e.g. Heathrow Express, other international carriers use it as a London based hub for rest of Europe and vice versa.

Isn’t O’Hare or Denver airport busier? I might be wrong.

PS. It’s pronounced ‘Thief Row.’

LHR is 6th according to this list:-

https://www.world-airport-codes.com/world-top-30-airports.html

Dover the busiest port??!

Heathrow was 6th in passenger numbers 2015

LHR isn’t even in the World top 5 on passengers, and I suspect would be even lower on numbers of plane movements.

Gatwick has the busiest single runway operation in the World.

It looks like the extra runway decison is moving towards LHR, which will screw the M25 completely for years…

Gatwick needs another runway, and LHR probably 2.

Don’t know about Dover but Heathrow isn’t the busiest airport.

I expect Frankfurt and Charles de Gaulle will get a fair chunk of Heathrow’s traffic post Brexit too, no point having a European hub outside of Europe.

It might also be a case that other developed countries don’t expect their population to all travel from the same airport?

no point having a European hub outside of Europe.

No need for an extra runway then!

It looks like the extra runway decison is moving towards LHR, which will screw the M25 completely for years…

Gatwick needs another runway, and LHR probably 2.

Put another 3 runways at LGW.

Link LHR / LGW / a Major London terminus with a Hyperloop, jobs a good un.

Just looked up sea ports and Dover doesn’t seem to rank very highly based on container shipments, passengers or tonnage so it looks like neither Heathrow or Dover are the busiest in the world.

Busiest Cargo port is Shanghai
Busiest passenger port is Miami

[edit]
Double checked. And this is contradicted by The Port of Dover which claims it is the busiest passenger port with 16 million travellers per year (almost four times the number handled by Miami). I guess the previous figures don’t include ferry trips.

I don’t think Dover is even in the ballpark when it comes to worlds busiest port.

no point having a European hub outside of Europe.

Great Britain will remain in Europe regardless of our involvement in the Economic Union. Geographically London is still well placed for a gateway in to Europe.

Prosperity of the general population is one reason why our Airports are among the world’s busiest. We’re a nation of travellers.

Your average citizen in Sao Paulo, Seoul, Mexico City, Manila, Mumbai, or Jakarta won’t be going abroad for their mates stag do.

I had a bit of a “WTF” moment listening to the radio this morning. Some report has been done supporting LHR’s third runway. Regarding pollution, the report says the extra plane traffic is OK, because by then [1] road vehicles will be much less polluting and so overall levels in the area will stay within the agreed limits.

Everyone else has to stop polluting so that we can crank out loads more. You what ??

[1] Supposedly mid-2020s but there’s no way it’ll be operational that quickly.

Atlanta has more movements, Dubai is busier by international passengers.

I’m in and out of ATL pretty often and the runways are insanely busy.

Geographically London is still well placed for a gateway in to Europe.

It is but basing your European hub within the same economic business zone as the majority of your European destinations has clear advantages for the airline in terms of streamlining it’s operation. I’m not saying that Heathrow is suddenly going to collapse (it won’t) but I’d expect that Frankfurt and CdG will find it a lot easier to make a compelling argument to airline operators to base their European hub operations with them.

Everyone else has to stop polluting so that we can crank out loads more. You what ??

Standard fair in my experience of the aviation sector. They view themselves as “untouchable” when it comes to pollution controls, unless it comes with fuel efficiencies of course…

Geographically London is still well placed for a gateway in to Europe.

Is it? You’ve still got the rather large physical barrier of the English Channel and the frankly poor surface travel infrastructure in Britain. If you want to go anywhere in continental Europe, then I would suggest that most other central urban locations are preferable.

Even when you die you have to connect through Atlanta

Gatwick has the busiest single runway operation in the World

I can believe that. Sit on top of Leith Hill with a pair of binoculars and you can watch them coming in to land while the last one is still taking off. One a minute, I reckoned.

Dover gets its status from lots of passenger and vehicle movements, not freight like container ports.

I don’t think Dover is even in the ballpark when it comes to worlds busiest port.

Could be in passenger numbers?

It’s a small niche, economically developed country, island to limit ways of getting on/off, close enough that RORO ferries are and option, far enough away we don’t just build a bridge, nearest neighbour similarly developed and well populated that people want to go to/from there.

Even when you die you have to connect through Atlanta

Very true!

Still, there’s Sweetwater IPA on tap on the sun terrace so it’s not all bad!

Could be in passenger numbers?

Yep I think it is. Some figures only seem to count cruise passengers which means that Dover doesn’t rank very highly but purely in terms of numbers of people getting on or off a boat in any given year then Dover rules.

I’d expect that Frankfurt and CdG will find it a lot easier to make a compelling argument to airline operators to base their European hub operations with them.

And Schiphol too.

Frankfurt up to 4 runways now, with a bit more theoretical green belt to expand in to. Enough forest to more than double in size, alongside the autobahn. Although getting that past the green lobby might be tricky, chopping down a load of firewood will be much cheaper than building a new island. US airbase closed there a few years ago now, and is already developed in to cargo (and FRA was already one of the largest freight airports iirc?) and maintenance.

Schiphol up to 6 runways now, and they didn’t exactly squeeze the 6th one in all that tightly.

mrsheen – Member 
Isn’t O’Hare or Denver airport busier? I might be wrong.

Denver always seems a snoozefest whenever I’m there.

If you go by international passengers, Heathrow comes 2nd

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_airports_by_international_passenger_traffic

US airports are way down the list for that as so few Americans leave the country.

Heathrow 2015 total passengers – 74,989,795, international – 69,816,491
Atlanta 2015 total passengers – 101,491,106, international – 11,233,303

Heathrow, 93% international
Atlanta, 11% international

Though pre-Brexit, you could have considered Heathrow just an airport in a state within Europe, much as any American airport is, and the number of international passengers flying outside of Europe via Heathrow could be much smaller 😉

Was in O’Hare last week. It’s not that busy. It’s just utterly awful.

last time I was in LHR I saw a load of posters claiming it is “voted world’s best airport”, “world’s best shopping” etc. Heaven knows who they asked.

LGW can’t have another runway as there is no reliable way to get there from central London by public transport.

LGW can’t have another runway as there is no reliable way to get there from central London by public transport.

Only cos RMT keep making their (Southern) drivers go on strike.
Is Gatwick Express or Thameslink not reliable? or do Victoria, London Bridge and Farringdon not count as central London?

Is Gatwick Express or Thameslink not reliable? or do Victoria, London Bridge and Farringdon not count as central London?

Hah!! I feel sorry for the thousands of tourists who miss their planes because they believe the BS about GX running on schedule and taking 30 mins!! Only last weekend it was shut for two whole days for works at Victoria. Thameslink? Hahahahahah!!!!!!

With only 2 runways, the fact that Heathrow is anywhere on that list is incredible…

No one in their right mind would go through CdG.

I’m not sure LHR will be much affected by Brexit as we were out of Schengen anyway.

No one in their right mind would go through CdG.

The only airport that makes ORD look like a shining beacon of efficiency.

PS, O’Hare is most definitely extremely busy, they’ve just got lots of runways.
They’ve also got lots more domestic traffic, which means smaller aircraft and more of them….

Was in O’Hare last week. It’s not that busy. It’s just utterly awful.

Yep. Did you do immigration there? Was the US citizen line insanely long and the other passport lane short?

Never going through ORD again. DFW is so much better as an entry point.

Yep, Victoria sucks and Gatwick’s rail is iffy… 4 Unused platforms at Waterloo now the Eurostar goes from St Pancras and the RMT needs sorting, and all that would be way cheaper than the transport infrastructure changes we are going to have to pay for if LHR gets the shout.

London is WAS a very important world city and business hub,

Yep. Did you do immigration there? Was the US citizen line insanely long and the other passport lane short?

Both lanes were insanely long, and overseen by hideous staff shouting in an unpleasant tone, with zero welcome or warmth.

One was shouted as “visitors” and the other “US Citizens and returning ESTAs”. I am in the latter, on an ESTA. When I first arrived, the US/Returning queue was almost non existent so I asked, “If I’m on a returning ESTA, is this the right line*?”. The reply was that it was, so I joined it. Until I got to the front and was told that I should be in the visitors line*. Again, delivered with no help, no care, no warmth. Welcome to America.

Hateful airport in every way. Even the BA First Class lounge is a joke. The only redeeming feature is the direct door to the plane, avoiding the scrum.

*I think I’m spending too much time in the US. Starting to speak ‘Merkin. 🙁

Off to Atlanta again next week. Delta really need to up their game on the lounge front, IMO. It’s their hub, and there’s nothing special about it. By comparison, Cathay’s Pier first lounge in HKG is one of the loveliest places to spend time. Airport lounge or not. It’s ace.

Heathrow isn’t a European hub, its a global hub. London will remain a global business hub, Paris serves a predominantky domestic market froma business perspective. Frankfurst isn’t even the capital of Germany and is home only to banks and thise are heading South fast.

Heathrow needs another unway as does Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham need upgrading too. All should be done.

Missed the edit slot – http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/12/13/review-cathay-pacific-the-pier-first-class-lounge-hong-kong-airport/

Took a call in one of the big chairs. Wasn’t meant to be a long one, so I had a glass of rum from the bar. While on the call, without me noticing, the barman had topped up both my rum and my ice. How many times, I don’t know, but I was more than a tad squiffy on boarding my flight to Singapore!