BAA’s seven UK airports handled a total of 12.8 million passengers in May 2006, an increase of 3.6% on the same month last year, with particular growth in routes to India and China.All major markets recorded growth, with the exception of European charter, which dropped 10.6%.. European scheduled traffic was up 6.6%, whilst North Atlantic activity was 1.4% higher, and other long haul routes increased by a collective 11%. Among these the fastest growing were routes to India and China, which grew 58% and 49% respectively.

Of the individual airports, Aberdeen saw the largest gain at 13.1%, taking it’s annual total of passengers past the 3 million mark for the first time. Stansted was up 11.3%, Gatwick was up 4.3%, and Heathrow recorded a gain of 1.4%. Edinburgh’s growth of 1.5% was helped by a 21% increase in both European scheduled and North Atlantic traffic. Glasgow saw a decrease of 1.9%.

In total the number of air transport movements at BAA’s UK airports increased by 2.9%. Cargo tonnage was down by 2.1%.
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