Consumer confidence growing – BAA
Thursday, 10 Dec, 2009
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Heathrow owner BAA recorded the first rise in passengers last month since March 2008.
BAA’s UK airports handled almost 10 million passengers in November, an increase of 0.8% over the same month last year.
It was the first time since March 2008 that the group’s airports have recorded a collective increase following a six-month run of gradually improving results.
There were increases of 4.7% in European scheduled traffic and 4.1% in traffic on long haul routes except the North Atlantic.
The key North Atlantic market was 6.8% lower than a year ago. Domestic traffic recorded a drop of 1.7%.
Heathrow saw a fourth monthly increase in the last five months in November. Traffic at the London hub increased by 1.1%, reflecting improving consumer confidence and an improving load factor across each of Heathrow’s markets. The Heathrow-wide load factor was up 2.6 points to 70.7%, the company said.
Gatwick marked its last full month under BAA ownership with a 4.5% increase, while Edinburgh was up 1.3% on last November.
BAA chief executive Colin Matthews said: “Global market conditions remain challenging, but these figures are encouraging.
“There is evidence that consumer confidence is growing and Heathrow’s strong network continues to perform well.”
Although still lower than this time last year, Stansted (down 2.7%) saw the sharpest reduction in its rate of decline since March 2008. This was as a result of a largely stable pattern of services in comparison with the first month of the winter season last year, BAA said.
Glasgow’s traffic was down by 4.7% in November, and there were also falls at Aberdeen (down 4.2%) and Southampton (down 2.5%).
The group-wide load factor of planes leaving BAA airports, a measure of how full the aircraft are, was up 1.8 points to 71.2%.
There was a group-wide drop of 1.4% in air transport movements, despite the increase in passengers carried, reflecting a continuing trend of rising airline load factors.
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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