BAA reports passenger growth

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Passenger numbers at BAA's seven UK airports continued to improve in October.

Traffic growth at BAA's UK airports continued in October, with a total of 11.8m passengers passing through the gates?an increase of 4% over the same month last year. The company said that the figures represented its "strongest performance since before the Iraq war". Figures for the year to date show growth of 2.7% over 2002.

Passenger figures for long-haul flights improved 4.6% from September, with North Atlantic routes showing a 1% increase. UK domestic and European scheduled routes also improved. Only charter flights showed a fall, with a 7.6% drop in passengers. BAA said the decline was due to pressures from low-cost carriers and independent travel arrangements.

The group's London airports all experienced growth, with Stansted showing a 17.8% rise in passengers for the month. Edinburgh also performed well, with a 7.8% increase. The company recently said that strong passenger numbers had boosted retail performance at its seven UK airports.