Royal wedding a blessing for BAA

Passenger traffic at BAA’s airports increased by 9.2 per cent last month compared to May 2010, with the late Easter holidays and Royal Wedding leading to more passengers at the beginning of the month.

By The Newsroom

Published 14th Jun 2011, 09:47 BST

BAA, majority owned by Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial, said 9.3 million passengers flew from its UK airports in May, with the Grimsvotn volcano eruption in Iceland having only a marginal impact on traffic.

BAA said London’s Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, served 5.9 million passengers during the month, its busiest ever May. That was up 11.6 per cent on May 2010 which was affected by volcanic ash and industrial action.

BAA said growth in passenger numbers at its airports demonstrated the continued recovery of the UK aviation sector. Passenger numbers at Heathrow over the last 12 months topped 68 million for the first time, an indication that exposure to the global economic recovery continued to support activity at the UK’s only hub airport, BAA said.