Passenger numbers falling faster at UK airports, BAA admits
BAA faces increasing pressure over airport sales and expansion after the number of passengers flying from the UK's major airports fell more than 11% last month
The decline in UK air travel is accelerating as passenger numbers at Britain's largest airports slumped 11% last month, according to airport operator BAA.
The owner of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted posted a decline in customers for the 11th successive month today with Stansted and Gatwick, its budget airline bases, recording the steepest falls. BAA airports handle 60% of airline passengers travelling through the UK.
An ongoing dispute with Ryanair and easyJet over landing fees at Stansted is also hitting passenger numbers at the Essex airport.The low-cost carriers have withdrawn services, compounding the effects of a recession that is driving down traffic at BAA's other airports.
BAA said its seven airports were used by 10.6 million passengers in March, a decline of 11.3% on the same month last year. The group, which also owns Southampton, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh airports, said the timing of Easter was responsible for up to three percentage points of the decline – it fell in March last year and boosted the comparative figures. However, BAA acknowledged there was a wider trend of falling air traffic and pointed to a 13.6% decline in passenger numbers at European airports in February.
Traffic through Heathrow fell 7.5%, with Gatwick down 17.7% and Stansted falling nearly 16%. John Strickland, an industry consultant, said: "We are definitely seeing a trend of increasing decline and that trend is going to continue."
The March figure was nearly double the decline in February, which saw underlying passenger numbers down 6.4%.
