BAA`s seven UK airports handled 13.1 million passengers in September, an increase of 5.4% against September last year…
BAA`s seven UK airports handled 13.1 million passengers in September, an increase of 5.4% against September last year. During the first half of the financial year passenger numbers increased 7.5% to 77.5 million passengers.
During the month of September, North Atlantic traffic increased 7.9% against the previous year, despite disruption from hurricanes in the Caribbean and southern states of the USA. European Scheduled markets grew by 8.6% and Other Long Haul increased 9.4%. The European Charter market continued to be the weakest sector with passenger numbers falling 5.5%.
Of the individual airports, passenger numbers grew 3.7% at Heathrow, 7.1% at Stansted and 18.9% at Southampton, where Flybe`s success continues to have a positive impact on passenger numbers. Elsewhere, the weak performance of charter markets was offset by strong growth on European scheduled routes with Gatwick showing a 6.1% increase, Glasgow, 8.4%, Edinburgh, 6.6% and Aberdeen, 4.2%.
The number of air transport movements rose 3.8% against September last year, while cargo tonnage grew 13.4% to 151,000 tonnes. For the third consecutive month Heathrow`s cargo market was particularly strong with tonnage growing 15.9% during the month.
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