Originally Posted by
dctPub
Precisely, while this encounter wasn't professional everyone who is mastutbating to the LHR controllers need to realise that LHR and the NYC area aren't even in the same ballpark.
Comparing just the 4 busiest (by aircraft movement) airports in each area last year...
New York
JFK - 456,000
EWR - 453,000
LGA - 372,000
TEB -
175,000
Total - 1,456,000
London
LHR - 475,000
LGW - 286,000
STN - 190,000
LTN -
134,000
Total - 1,085,000
Difference: 371,000, or 1,000+ per day. In other words, to reach comparable traffic numbers the London 4 would have to add 1 LaGuardia airport.
The NY TRACON is 2nd busiest in the U.S., handling (flights in, out, and transitioning through) 1.92 million flights in it's airspace in 2018. #1 busiest TRACON is SoCal (LAX area) handling 2.13 million flights.
For comparison with the above TRACON numbers, NATS in all it's zones at all altitudes across the UK handled about 2.4 million flights during the year.
Of course, the traffic handled by both the NY and London areas' single busiest airports (JFK and LHR) pales in comparison to Chicago O'Hare (904,000) and Atlanta Hartsfield (895,000). LAX (707,00) and DFW (667,000) are distant #3 and #4.
If Heathrow were a U.S. airport, in terms of aircraft movements (475,000) it would rank #8, squeaking-out San Francisco (470,00) but well-behind Las Vegas (540,000), Charlotte (550,00) and Denver (603,000) in addition to the aforementioned DFW, LAX, ATL, and ORD.