BAA traffic up 7.4%

Emily Pacey

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The UK airports group posts solid growth in the first month of 2005

BAA's seven UK airports handled 9.9m passengers in January, a 7.4% increase on the same month last year. The UK airport group credits the increase to aggressive passenger marketing by airlines and the continued growth of low-cost carriers at all seven of its airports. Gatwick performed best, adding 10.8% to its passenger figures, whilst Stanstead rose by 8.6% and Heathrow by 6.1% against January 2004.

Long-haul flights, excluding North Atlantic routes, drew the greatest numbers of passengers to the airports, contributing 11.1% to the average increase. European charter flight passenger numbers continued to fall, down 1.6% on last January.

In Scotland, Aberdeen recorded an increase of 8.3% in traffic, whilst Glasgow rose by 6.2% and Edinburgh added 4.9%, both benefiting from strong growth on Irish routes and international services. Aberdeen's success is explained by a combination of severe storms disrupting service in January 2004 and the introduction of new services.

At Southampton an increase of 4.2% was recorded.