BAA’s airports handled a record 69.4m passengers last year, a 5% increase over 2010, and the company saw its losses reduced to £255.8m from £316.6m the previous year.
Heathrow was operating at full capacity, however passenger number at Stansted fell by 2.8% to 18million.
BAA reported a 9.9% rise in revenue, which it said reflected higher tariffs and continued strong retail performance. The net retail income per passenger rose from £5.29 to £5.58.
Chief executive officer Colin Matthews said: "BAA delivered a strong operational performance in 2011 with record traffic levels and high service standards at Heathrow.
"Last year saw Heathrow’s best punctuality performance in over a decade and the international Airport Service Quality passenger survey showed that 70% of Heathrow’s passengers rated their experience as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Very Good’, compared with just 41% when the Ferrovial-led consortium bought BAA in 2006.
"We continued to invest significantly in further improving our airports during 2011, particularly on the new Heathrow Terminal 2."
By Linsey McNeill
