BAA's Airports Report Increase in Passenger Traffic

BAA's Airports Report Increase in Passenger Traffic

British Airports Authority (BAA) reported a rise of 3.4% in total passenger traffic for the month of October, thanks to upturn in the business travel segment.

UK's largest airports operator, BAA announced that its six airports together handled 9.75 million passengers in October, which is an increase of 318,000 air travellers. The surge in the passenger traffic can also be credited to the 1.2% increase in the number of flights in the region.

UK's major getaway, the London Heathrow Airport posted an increase of 6% in its flight traffic along with a rise of 7.2% in passenger figures which is up by 410,000 to 6.1 million. According to BAA, 10.6% increase in Heathrow's European travel is an indicator that the European continent is recovering from one of the history's biggest economic depressions. Number of continental travellers from the London Heathrow Airport has swelled by 221,000 to 2.28 million passengers with Geneva, Milan, Moscow and Berlin as the biggest gainers.

Long-haul flights between London Heathrow and China-Hong Kong rose by 16.1%, up by 23,000 to 173,000. Given the fact that the hub serves only two Chinese destinations it is indeed a big development. Long-haul journeys between various BAA airports and North America augmented by 7.5%, while long-haul flights to other regions spiralled by 3.2% to 1.84 million.

Although, it must be noted that increased air passenger duty can impact traffic on such routes. Air travellers who use long-haul flights from UK would like to use other European hubs to avoid the tax.

BAA's Chief Executive, Colin Matthews stated in a press release that "Passenger growth is good for the economy with thousands of people across the country employed in aviation, international trade and tourism. We are continuing with our 5 billion Heathrow investment programme the biggest private investment project in the UK providing thousands of jobs as we modernise facilities to improve everyone's experience of the airport.

"The continued strength of Heathrow reflects an upturn in global economic activity. Low sterling and interest rates make the UK a competitive place to do business. However, government spending cuts, a sharp increase in air passenger duty and an imminent VAT rise are weakening the prospects for in-bound tourism and British leisure travel." Mr Matthews further added.

As of other BAA airports, Edinburgh posted an increase of 3.5% to 854,000 while Southampton mounted up by 1.0% to 157,000.

Passenger traffic in Stansted saw a fall of 3.1% signifying a slump in leisure travel. Glasgow and Aberdeen also experienced a declining passenger traffic with Glasgow down by 7.4% whereas Aberdeen plummeted by 5%.

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