BAA’s seven UK airports handled 9.9 million passengers in January, an increase of 7.4% against the same month last year. During the month all airports recorded gains. Heathrow increased 6.1%, while Gatwick rose 10.8% and Stansted added 8.6%. More aggressive passenger marketing by airlines is believed to have driven growth at these airports. At BAA’s three Scottish airports an overall increase of 6.2% was recorded. Glasgow recorded an increase of 6.8%, Edinburgh added 4.9% and Aberdeen rose 8.3%. Glasgow and Edinburgh each benefited from strong growth on Irish routes and good performances on international services. A combination of severe storms in 2004 and new services contributed to Aberdeen’s stronger performance. At Southampton an increase of 4.2% was recorded.
Across the markets, North Atlantic and Other Long Haul services performed strongly recording increases of 5.6% and 11.1% respectively. Low fare services continued to benefit European Scheduled and Irish markets with these sectors each increasing 8.3% during the month. European Charter traffic was down 1.6% overall.
Air transport movements were 3.3% higher and cargo tonnage was up by 5.9%.
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