Passengers down at BAA airports

[11th June 2008]

Passenger numbers were down in May at BAA’s UK airports although Heathrow and Gatwick were both busier.

During the month BAA’s airports handled 12.7 million passengers, a fall of 0.5% compared to May 2007.

BAA blames the fall on a 5.3% decline in passengers on UK domestic flights, and a 2.5% decrease in passengers using European charter flights. Seat capacity fell by 7.9% on European charter flights, but this was offset by a 4.8% increase in seat occupancy levels.

All other markets recorded a modest increase, says BAA. Passengers on European scheduled flights were up 0.9%, on North Atlantic flights up by 0.5%, and on other long haul flights by 1.2%.

There were mixed results for the seven UK airports operated by BAA. Both Gatwick (up 1.1%) and Heathrow (up 0.6%) handled more passengers than in May 2007. But BAA’s other London airport, Stansted, saw passengers numbers decline by 3.3%. Outside the capital, Southampton airport experienced a worrying fall in passengers of 6.9%.

But the biggest decline was at Glasgow airport, where numbers were down by a startling 9.1%. BAA says that Glasgow suffered from capacity cuts in domestic, charter and North Atlantic services. Numbers were also higher in May 2007 because Glasgow hosted the UEFA Cup Final played between two teams from Spain, BAA explains.

Glasgow’s decline confirms Edinburgh as the busiest airport in Scotland. Here passenger numbers were up marginally, by 0.7%. But there was more bad news at BAA’s other Scottish airport, with a 1.3% decline in passengers using Aberdeen airport.

Written by: Nick Purdom