BAA reports dramatic fall in passenger numbers
Passengers numbers through BAA’s UK airports fell by 5% last month, compared to September in 2007.
The seven airports operated by BAA handled 13.3 million passengers in September, and 113.4 million in total since January, a fall of 1.4% for the nine month period.
European charter traffic fell by 12.6%, partly down to the collapse of XL Airways.
North Atlantic traffic was down by 6.8% and other long-haul routes by 6%.
European scheduled traffic achieved the best result with a drop of just 2.2%.
At Heathrow, passenger total fell by 3.6% overall, despite a 9.6% increase in North Atlantic traffic.
European scheduled traffic at Heathrow was down by 8.1%.
At Gatwick, North Atlantic traffic fell by 44% mainly due to the introduction of the ‘Open Skies’ Agreement which saw many carriers switch to Heathrow.
But at Gatwick, European scheduled traffic was up by 8.8%.
Stansted’s passenger total fell by 4.7% overall, with European scheduled traffic down by 2.9% and domestic by 0.8%.
Southampton recorded a drop of 4% overall, with European scheduled traffic down 8.6%.
In Scotland, Edinburgh traffic was 2.9% lower and Aberdeen saw a 4.2% drop in passengers.
The largest drop was at Glasgow (–11%) where the loss of XL and Zoom services exacerbated already weak charter and North Atlantic results.
But Glasgow’s European scheduled traffic was 3.7% up on last year.
In total BAA’s airports recorded a 1.3% drop in air transport movements during September and a 2.3% reduction in air cargo tonnage.
Despite the overall loss of cargo traffic, both Heathrow (+2.5%) and Stansted (+3.8%) recorded increases.
BAA said it remained confident that the long-term growth prospects for aviation are good.
“Historically, air traffic growth recovers from short-term shocks such as those currently being played out in the financial markets, as evidenced by the growth in traffic after the Gulf wars, 9/11 and the Asian economic problems in the late 1990s and the fact that sales of commercial civilian aircraft remain buoyant,†it said in a statement.
But the figures were greeted with less enthusiasm from Ryanair, which claimed BAA’s long-term growth prospects were “awfulâ€.
“The figures prove yet again that high cost, price increasing, badly run airport monopolies like the BAA simply don’t work,†said CEO Michael O’Leary.
“Having almost doubled passenger charges at Stansted over the past 18 months, it is no surprise that passenger numbers are declining at the BAA’s airports, while traffic in Ryanair, and at other more competitive airports across the UK has continued to grow in September.
“These declining BAA traffic figures (which will get worse as we move through the winter) prove yet again that the BAA monopoly has failed British tourism, it has failed its airline users, it has failed consumers, and it must now be broken up in order to allow competition to provide efficient facilities and lower costs where the BAA monopoly has patently failed.â€
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Qatar Airways offers flexible payment options for European travellers
Airlines suspend Madagascar services following unrest and army revolt
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Digital Travel Reporter of the Mirror totally seduced by HotelPlanner AI Travel Agent
Strike action set to cause travel chaos at Brussels airports