BAA airport passenger traffic edges up

PASSENGER traffic at BAA airports rose slightly last month compared with July 2010, helped by growth at London’s Heathrow and its Scottish airports.

The company, majority owned by Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial, said 11.03 million passengers flew from its UK airports last month, up 0.8 per cent on the same month last year.

It said London’s Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, served 6.9 million passengers, up 2.5 per cent.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The growth in passenger traffic at Heathrow in July is good news for UK jobs, tourism and growth,” said BAA’s Chief Executive Colin Matthews.

Mr Matthews said a 5.3 per cent increase in North Atlantic traffic helped compensate for a reduction in domestic travel at Heathrow.

BAA, which owns Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports in Scotland, as well as Heathrow, Southampton and Stansted in England, said its Scottish airports recorded a 2.9 per cent increase against the same month last year.

Traffic at London’s Stansted airport, however, which is heavily exposed to short-haul economy travel, was down 7.2 per cent on last year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

BAA has, in recent months, reported a steady rise in long-haul business traffic, especially to emerging markets such as China and India, and said growth in US traffic had also helped.

The company said traffic to and from Brazil rose 80 per cent year-on-year.