Heathrow Airport recorded its busiest September ever, which has been hailed as a sign that confidence amongst travellers is picking up.
The airport saw a 7.6% rise in traffic during the month, which was the largest year-on-year monthly increase since July 2004. More than 437,000 extra passengers travelled from the airport than in September 2009.
Routes not served from any other UK airport, including Brazil, China and Russia, saw significant growth and the most popular routes were New York, Dubai and Dublin. Traffic to India fell by 0.3%.
The growth out of Heathrow was supported by the reinstatement of flights previously removed from schedules due to the recession, said BAA.
Across all the operator’s UK airports, traffic was up 3.3%, that’s more than 320,370 extra passengers, though Stansted passenger numbers were down on last year due to the loss of low-cost flights. Traffic was down 4.3%, which was an improvement on the 6.1% drop in August.
Glasgow and Aberdeen also saw 5% fewer passengers due to the collapse of flyglobespan, though BAA said traffic was picking up as other carriers moved in to plug the gaps.
By Linsey McNeill
