BAA passenger numbers fall
Passenger traffic at BAA airports fell 0.6 per cent in August year-on-year, hit by the continued weakness of the leisure market, which has led to casualties among small British tour operators.
BAA, which is majority owned by Spain’s Ferrovial, said 10.6m passengers flew from its UK airports last month, down from 10.7m in the same month a year ago.
The company, which owns London’s Heathrow and Stansted airports but sold Gatwick for £1.5bn last year, said 6.5m passengers flew from Heathrow in August – 2.5 per cent up on the same month a year ago.
“Heathrow benefited from its greater exposure to the business travel sector, while the other UK airports in the group depend more on the currently weak UK outbound leisure market, which continues to be adversely affected by the continuing economic uncertainty that has led to casualties among smaller UK tour operators,” the company said in a statement.
At Stansted, passenger numbers dropped 6.1 per cent, largely as a result of reductions in seat capacity at airlines using the airport.