Traffic Commentary
BAA’s UK airports handled a total of 14.8 million passengers in July, a drop of 1.7% on the same month last year. A combination of a weakening economic climate, rising airfares and airline capacity cuts meant that each airport in the group and most major markets lost ground in July. Year to date BAA UK airports traffic shows a decline of 0.8%.
Among key markets the most affected are European flights (-1.4%) and UK Domestic (- 4.5%) The stimulus of Open Skies helped North Atlantic traffic to an increase of 0.6% but other long haul routes saw a collective decline of 1.7%.
Heathrow was virtually unchanged on last year, thanks to Open Skies, showing an increase of approximately 6.5% in long haul routes, but Gatwick’s losses from the same source due to the shift of long haul traffic to Heathrow contributed to an overall decrease of 1.8% despite an 11.9% increase in European scheduled traffic. Stansted was down by 5.3%. Each of the Scottish airports also recorded slight reductions on last July.
In total the numbers of air transport movements was 0.5% lower than a year ago but cargo tonnage was up by 2.6% overall, with Heathrow recording an increase of 10.8%.
BAA traffic summary: July 2008
| Terminal passengers (000s) | Month | % change | Year to date Jan to Jul 2008 | % change | 12 months Aug 2007 to Jul 2008 | %change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 6,417.7 | -0.0 | 38,887.6 | 0.3 | 67,728.8 | 1.3 |
| Gatwick | 3,718.0 | -1.8 | 20,104.9 | 1.3 | 35,425.8 | 2.6 |
| Stansted | 2,315.6 | -5.3 | 13,098.7 | -4.7 | 23,106.7 | -2.7 |
| London area total | 12,451.3 | -1.6 | 72,091.2 | -0.7 | 126,261.4 | 0.9 |
| Southampton | 192.2 | -1.8 | 1,149.2 | 3.5 | 2,005.6 | 3.3 |
| Glasgow | 939.2 | -3.2 | 4,760.5 | -4.5 | 8,509.7 | -3.3 |
| Edinburgh | 905.1 | -1.3 | 5,244.5 | 1.6 | 9,122.9 | 3.5 |
| Aberdeen | 317.1 | -2.6 | 1,934.9 | -1.7 | 3,399.5 | 1.2 |
| Scottish total | 2,161.4 | -2.3 | 11,940.0 | -1.4 | 21,032.1 | 0.3 |
| BAA UK total | 14.804.9 | -1.7 | 85,180.4 | -0.8 | 149,299.1 | 0.8 |
| Naples | 581.4 | -2.6 | 3,292.2 | 3.9 | 5,859.5 | 8.1 |
| Air transport movements | Month | % change | Year to date Jan to Jul 2008 | % change | 12 months Aug 2007 to Jul 2008 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 41,515 | 1.1 | 277,208 | 0.3 | 476,677 | 1.1 |
| Gatwick | 25,529 | 1.6 | 151,581 | 1.9 | 261,681 | 2.2 |
| Stansted | 16,712 | -6.7 | 106,240 | -5.5 | 185,248 | -3.8 |
| London area total | 83,756 | -0.4 | 535,029 | -0.4 | 923,606 | 0.4 |
| Southampton | 4,215 | -5.2 | 26,384 | -4.2 | 45,878 | -2.3 |
| Glasgow | 8,626 | -3.6 | 51,431 | -5.9 | 90,420 | -5.5 |
| Edinburgh | 10,610 | 2.3 | 67,445 | 0.6 | 115,520 | -0.2 |
| Aberdeen | 9,217 | 1.0 | 60,538 | -0.9 | 104,934 | 0.3 |
| Scottish total | 28,453 | 0.0 | 179,414 | -1.8 | 310,874 | -1.6 |
| BAA UK total | 116,424 | -0.5 | 740,827 | -0.9 | 1,280,358 | -0.2 |
| Naples | 7,477 | -3.0 | 40,811 | -1.4 | 71,762 | 3.8 |
| Cargo (metric tonnes) | Month | % change | Year to date Jan to Jul 2008 | % change | 12 months Aug 2007 to Jul 2008 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 123,996 | 10.8 | 825,430 | 10.6 | 1,392,986 | 9.6 |
| Gatwick | 7,435 | -47.1 | 69,757 | -31.1 | 139,709 | -24.1 |
| Stansted | 17,093 | -5.3 | 117,671 | -0.8 | 205,706 | -2.1 |
| London area total | 148,524 | 3.2 | 1,012,858 | 4.9 | 1,738,401 | 4.4 |
| Southampton | 22 | 4.8 | 182 | 20.2 | 326 | 32.4 |
| Glasgow | 315 | -18.0 | 2,248 | -15.1 | 3,880 | -21.4 |
| Edinburgh | 753 | -49.2 | 6,761 | -37.0 | 16,133 | -31.9 |
| Aberdeen | 364 | 15.6 | 2,464 | 2.9 | 4,024 | -1.0 |
| Scottish total | 1,432 | -34.3 | 11,473 | -27.3 | 24,037 | -26.5 |
| BAA UK total | 149,978 | 2.6 | 1,024,512 | 4.3 | 1,762,764 | 3.8 |
| Naples | 144 | -8.3 | 1,542 | -17.2 | 2,697 | -10.5 |
Market comparison - UK airports July 2008
| Market | BAA total July 2007 (000s) | BAA total July 2008 (000s) | % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK & Channel Isles | 2,393.3 | 2,285.6 | -4.5 |
| Ireland | 629.2 | 620.8 | -1.3 |
| European scheduled | 6,367.5 | 6,344.9 | -0.4 |
| European charter* | 1,383.3 | 1,295.7 | -6.3 |
| North Atlantic | 1,988.5 | 2,000.1 | 0.6 |
| Other long haul | 2,297.3 | 2,257.7 | -1.7 |
| Total | 15,059.2 | 14,804.9 | -1.7 |
* includes North African charter
Note: Origins and destinations are classificed according to ultimate origin or destination of aircraft in the case of multi-sector flights.
Notes: Figures for the market sectors have been rounded. Totals as per Traffic Summary.
