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The number of people travelling through BAA’s UK airports increased by 0.3% to 10.9 million in July.
Heathrow recorded its busiest ever month, with 6.7 million people making journeys through the airport – 3.5% more than last year. Sunday, 18 July was Heathrow’s busiest ever day, with 232,000 passengers.
Across BAA, the fastest growing market in July was Europe, with an increase of 2.9% combining both charter and scheduled flights. Long-haul traffic was up by 0.5% but domestic traffic was 4.6% lower than last year. The main source of passenger growth at Heathrow was the European market, where additional capacity fuelled an increase of 9.5%.
At Stansted, a near 8% drop in seats offered produced a similar drop of 7.2% in passengers, while in Scotland additional capacity helped to produce an overall increase of 6.6% in passengers travelling to and from Europe. At the individual airports, Aberdeen’s traffic fell by 4.1%, Edinburgh grew by 0.6% and Glasgow recorded a drop of 3.6%. Southampton’s July numbers were down 1.4%, while traffic at Naples increased by 6.1% in the month.
In total, the number of air transport movements at BAA’s UK airports was 0.4% down on last year (Heathrow was up 2.9%), while cargo activity remained very strong with a 17.9% an increase across the group and a 19.1% increase at Heathrow.
BAA traffic summary: July 2010
| Terminal passengers (000s) | Month | % change | Jan to Jul 2010 | % change | Aug 2009 to Jul 2010 | % change |
| Heathrow |
6,705.9 |
3.5 |
36,833.6 |
-2.3 |
65,033.2 |
-1.1 |
| Stansted |
2,025.7 |
-7.2 |
10,548.8 |
-7.6 |
19,084.6 |
-7.6 |
| London area t otal |
8,731.6 |
0.8 |
47,382.4 |
-3.5 |
84,117.9 |
-2.6 |
| Southampton |
187.8 |
-1.4 |
1,000.0 |
-2.6 |
1,764.9 |
-3.5 |
| Glasgow |
788.9 |
-3.6 |
3,698.6 |
-11.1 |
6,757.7 |
-10.3 |
| Edinburgh |
961.2 |
0.6 |
4,848.1 |
-7.0 |
8,683.0 |
-3.1 |
| Aberdeen |
276.9 |
-4.1 |
1,562.8 |
-9.4 |
2,838.4 |
-8.5 |
| Scottish total |
2,027.0 |
-1.7 |
10,109.5 |
-8.9 |
18,279.1 |
-6.7 |
| UK total |
10,946.4 |
0.3 |
58,491.8 |
-4.5 |
104,161.9 |
-3.4 |
| Naples |
591.4 |
6.1 |
3,077.9 |
4.2 |
5,414.8 |
2.9 |
| Air transport movements | Month | % change | Jan to Jul 2010 | % change | Aug 2009 to Jul 2010 | % change |
| Heathrow |
41,438 |
2.9 |
256,976 |
-4.9 |
446,884 |
-4.1 |
| Stansted |
14,143 |
-8.7 |
83,364 |
-7.8 |
149,190 |
-7.5 |
| London area total |
55,581 |
-0.3 |
340,340 |
-5.6 |
596,074 |
-5.0 |
| Southampton |
4,143 |
1.9 |
23,403 |
-1.4 |
40,235 |
-4.8 |
| Glasgow |
7,255 |
0.7 |
39,744 |
-9.4 |
70,156 |
-11.4 |
| Edinburgh |
10,144 |
0.2 |
58,511 |
-7.5 |
102,298 |
-7.2 |
| Aberdeen |
8,392 |
-4.1 |
51,872 |
-8.1 |
92,321 |
-6.9 |
| Scottish total |
25,791 |
-1.1 |
150,127 |
-8.2 |
264,775 |
-8.2 |
| UK total |
85,515 |
-0.4 |
513,870 |
-6.2 |
901,084 |
-6.0 |
| Naples |
6,931 |
1.6 |
36,521 |
-1.8 |
63,375 |
-2.4 |
| Cargo (metric tonnes) | Month | % change | Jan to Jul 2010 | % change | Aug 2009 to Jul 2010 | % change |
| Heathrow |
130,094 |
19.1 |
847,029 |
22.3 |
1,432,863 |
13.0 |
| Stansted |
17,952 |
16.0 |
116,003 |
14.6 |
198,401 |
8.4 |
| London area total |
148,047 |
18.7 |
963,032 |
21.3 |
1,631,264 |
12.5 |
| Southampton |
16 |
-26.8 |
44 |
-61.6 |
139 |
-28.7 |
| Glasgow |
221 |
-26.1 |
2,259 |
56.3 |
3,526 |
21.3 |
| Edinburgh |
1,614 |
-21.3 |
13,019 |
-8.7 |
22,835 |
28.7 |
| Aberdeen |
520 |
19.9 |
2,896 |
-4.7 |
4,778 |
2.3 |
| Scottish total |
2,355 |
-15.4 |
18,174 |
-3.0 |
31,139 |
23.0 |
| UK total |
150,417 |
17.9 |
981,250 |
20.8 |
1,662,542 |
12.6 |
| Naples |
119 |
-29.3 |
1,129 |
-1.3 |
1,971 |
7.5 |
Market comparison: UK airports July 2010
| Market | BAA total Jul 2009 (000s) |
BAA total Jul 2010 (000s) |
% change |
| UK & Channel Islands |
1,819.5 |
1,735.3 |
-4.6 |
| Ireland |
456.1 |
412.7 |
-9.5 |
| European scheduled |
4,698.2 |
4,772.5 |
1.6 |
| European charter* |
335.7 |
405.3 |
20.7 |
| North Atlantic |
1,605.4 |
1,613.8 |
0.5 |
| Other long-haul |
1,998.6 |
2,006.9 |
0.4 |
| Total |
10,913.5 |
10,946.4 |
0.3 |
* Includes North African charter
Note: Origins and destinations are classified according to ultimate origin or destination of aircraft in the case of multi-sector flights.
Note: Figures for the market sectors have been rounded. Totals as per Traffic Summary.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
