United Kingdom
United States
Asia Pacific
BAA says passengers are returning
BAA’s latest figures show passengers are returning, with budget airlines pushing the growth.
The airline operator’s March figures show that its seven UK airports handled 10.1 million passengers, a 3.4% improvement on March, 2001.
BAA said that figures were buoyed by an earlier Easter than last year. Across the group, there were rises of +17.9% on Irish routes, +14.7% on European charter routes, +4.4% in domestic traffic and +3.3% in the European scheduled market.
In the long haul sector, North Atlantic routes made further improvements with a fall of -5.4%, compared to -7.7% in February and -10.1% in January, whilst other long haul routes recorded a collective gain for the first time since July 2001, of +1.7%.
Heathrow reported its first monthly increase (+2.2%) since February 2001. BAA said that underpinned by competition from low cost scheduled carriers, Edinburgh (+21.9%), Stansted (+17.2%) and Glasgow (+7.9%) each experienced strong growth. According to BAA, Stansted is “one of the fastest-growing major airports in Europe”.
Traffic at Gatwick decreased -3.3%, which represents an improvement against January and February, when traffic for the months fell -16.4% and-10.8% respectively.
For BAA’s financial year ended March 2001/02, its seven UK airports handled 121.9 million passengers, a decrease of -2.2% over the previous year, which BAA blamed on Foot and Mouth disease, the general global economic slowdown and the events of September 11.
BAA said that continued growth amongst low cost scheduled carriers also helped Glasgow to 7.3 million passengers per annum for the first time. Edinburgh added 11.6% traffic growing to 6.3 million passengers for the year and Aberdeen added 1.5% to 2.6 million passengers for the year. BAA said that Foot and mouth disease and September 11 impacted traffic through Heathrow and Gatwick, with drops of -6.1% and -5.1% respectively. Southampton recorded a fall of -3.0% for the year.
Related News Stories:
Kittipong Prapattong’s Plan for Thailand’s Tourism Growth: Taxes, Visas, and Campaigns
James Jin: Didatravel’s Journey from China to Global Reach and the Impact of AI on Travel
Darien Schaefer on Pensacola’s Evolution: From Small Town to Global Destination
Florida Tourism’s Next Frontier: Dana Young on Expanding Beyond the Classics
Patrick Harrison on Tampa Bay Tourism’s Resilience and Marketing Strategy
Bubba O’Keefe on Clarksdale’s Vibrant Music Scene
Commemorating Elvis and Embracing Tupelo’s Culture with Jennie Bradford Curlee
Craig Ray and the Expansion of the Blues Trail
Presenting Mississippi’s Cultural Trails with Katie Coats
Robert Terrell: A Journey Through BB King’s Influence
Rochelle Hicks: Celebrating Mississippi’s Musical Legacy
Exploring Jacksonville with Katie Mitura: The Flip Side of Florida
Dozens fall ill in P&O Cruises ship outbreak
Turkish Airlines flight in emergency landing after pilot dies
Boy falls to death on cruise ship
Unexpected wave rocks cruise ship
Storm Lilian travel chaos as bank holiday flights cancelled