Heathrow Airport believes it needs more room to expand, due to limited space for new flights.

The airport has reported increased volumes for September. It states 6.6 million passengers used the hub last month, improving on figures a year ago by 3.4 per cent. On each individual flight, passenger numbers were up by 1.5 per cent to an average of 164 per service.

Suggestions of a third runway at Heathrow have been ongoing for some time and - most recently - shadow chancellor Ed Balls said he would prefer funding this over the controversial HS2 rail project.

The airport highlighted the announcement of a new link between it and the Philippines, running five times a week, as evidence of its growing popularity.

Chief executive officer Colin Matthews said: "We are delighted to welcome Philippine Airlines to our family of carriers. But because Heathrow is full, it can take many years to achieve new routes like this one."

He added expanding to emerging markets was crucial but the UK needs a bigger hub location to expand. Without it, the country risks falling behind other global destinations.

Increased traffic to India and China was also reported - up 12.3 per cent and 13.4 per cent respectively.