BAA’s UK airports handled a total of 13.3 million passengers in September, 5.0% fewer than in the same month last year. Year to date, BAA´s UK airport traffic shows a decline of 1.4% for the nine months to September at a total of 113.4 million.
Markets saw reductions during the month with the largest being a 12.6% decrease in European charter traffic, partly as a result of the closure of XL Airways on the 12th of the month. North Atlantic traffic was down by 6.8% and other long haul routes by 6.0%. European scheduled traffic achieved the best result with a drop of just 2.2%.
Among individual airports Heathrow’s passenger total fell by 3.6% overall, despite a 9.6% increase in North Atlantic traffic. European scheduled traffic at Heathrow was down by 8.1%. Gatwick’s pattern was a mirror image of Heathrow with North Atlantic traffic 44.0% (mainly due to the introduction of the ‘Open Skies’ Agreement) lower but European scheduled up by 8.8%.
Stansted’s passenger total fell by 4.7% overall, with European scheduled traffic down by 2.9% and domestic by 0.8%. Southampton recorded a drop of 4.0% overall, with European scheduled traffic down 8.6%.
In Scotland, Edinburgh traffic was 2.9% lower and Aberdeen saw a 4.2% drop in passengers. The largest drop was at Glasgow (–11.0%) where the loss of XL and Zoom services exacerbated already weak Charter and North Atlantic results. In contrast its European scheduled traffic was 3.7% up on last year.
In total BAA’s airports recorded a 1.3% drop in air transport movements during September and a 2.3% reduction in air cargo tonnage. Despite the overall loss of cargo traffic, both Heathrow ( 2.5%) and Stansted ( 3.8%) recorded increases.
BAA remains of the view that the long-term growth prospects for aviation are good. Historically, air traffic growth recovers from short-term shocks such as those currently being played out in the financial markets, as evidenced by the growth in traffic after the Gulf wars, 9/11 and the Asian economic problems in the late 1990s and the fact that sales of commercial civilian aircraft remain buoyant.
BAA traffic summary: September 2008
| Terminal passengers (000s) | Month | % change | Year to date Jan to Sep 2008 | % change | Oct 2007 to Sep 2008 | %change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 5,802.7 | -3.6 | 51,056.0 | -0.7 | 67,497.0 | 0.2 |
| Gatwick | 3,308.9 | -6.8 | 27,335.5 | -0.1 | 35,137.4 | 0.9 |
| Stansted | 2,100.1 | -4.7 | 17,612.0 | -4.7 | 22,884.9 | -4.6 |
| London area total | 11,211.7 | -4.8 | 96,003.4 | -1.3 | 125,519.3 | -0.5 |
| Southampton | 182.8 | -4.0 | 1,524.4 | 1.3 | 1,986.0 | 1.8 |
| Glasgow | 786.3 | -11.0 | 6,370.9 | -5.4 | 8,366.8 | -4.9 |
| Edinburgh | 823.3 | -2.9 | 6,953.9 | 0.7 | 9,089.5 | 1.6 |
| Aberdeen | 298.5 | -4.2 | 2,532.5 | -2.5 | 3,369.4 | -1.6 |
| Scottish total | 1,908.0 | -6.6 | 15,857.3 | -2.3 | 20,825.7 | -1.6 |
| UK total | 13,302.6 | -5.0 | 113,385.1 | -1.4 | 148,331.0 | -0.6 |
| Naples | 553.4 | -9.7 | 4,481.7 | 1.4 | 5,797.8 | 4.1 |
| Air transport movements | Month | % change | Year to date Jan to Sep 2008 | % change | Oct 2007 to Sep 2008 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 39,846 | -0.7 | 357,912 | 0.0 | 475,748 | 0.4 |
| Gatwick | 23,658 | -2.1 | 201,166 | 1.3 | 261,441 | 1.7 |
| Stansted | 16,067 | -5.8 | 138,964 | -5.9 | 182,814 | -5.6 |
| London area total | 79,571 | -2.2 | 698,042 | -0.9 | 920,003 | -0.5 |
| Southampton | 4,142 | 0.3 | 34,766 | -3.8 | 45,665 | -2.7 |
| Glasgow | 7,945 | -5.6 | 67,335 | -6.1 | 89,254 | -6.1 |
| Edinburgh | 10,136 | 3.6 | 87,744 | 0.7 | 115,688 | 0.3 |
| Aberdeen | 9,178 | 4.1 | 78,525 | -1.0 | 104,702 | -0.5 |
| Scottish total | 27,259 | 0.9 | 233,604 | -1.9 | 309,644 | -1.9 |
| UK total | 110,972 | -1.3 | 966,412 | -1.2 | 1,275,312 | -0.9 |
| Naples | 6,363 | -10.1 | 54,468 | -3.0 | 70,664 | -1.4 |
| Cargo (metric tonnes) | Month | % change | Year to date Jan to Sep 2008 | % change | Oct 2007 to Sep 2008 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 117,521 | 2.5 | 1,063,236 | 9.6 | 1,406,652 | 9.3 |
| Gatwick | 7,607 | -42.6 | 85,117 | -33.5 | 128,393 | -27.6 |
| Stansted | 17,737 | 3.8 | 151,397 | -1.7 | 203,966 | -2.2 |
| London area total | 142,865 | -1.4 | 1,299,750 | 3.8 | 1,739,011 | 4.0 |
| Southampton | 18 | -31.5 | 217 | 8.1 | 312 | 15.3 |
| Glasgow | 282 | -24.7 | 2,925 | -14.1 | 3,800 | -19.8 |
| Edinburgh | 788 | -61.3 | 8,073 | -44.3 | 13,693 | -34.0 |
| Aberdeen | 339 | 3.5 | 3,159 | 2.7 | 4,036 | 0.0 |
| Scottish total | 1,409 | -48.5 | 14,157 | -32.5 | 21,529 | -27.1 |
| UK total | 144,292 | -2.3 | 1,314,123 | 3.2 | 1,760,851 | 3.4 |
| Naples | 179 | -29.5 | 1,835 | -21.2 | 2,523 | -16.2 |
Market comparison - UK airports September 2008
| Market | BAA total September 2007 (000s) | BAA total September 2008 (000s) | % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK & Channel Isles | 2,274.1 | 2,137.7 | -6.0 |
| Ireland | 565.0 | 538.6 | -4.7 |
| European scheduled | 5,914.2 | 5,786.9 | -2.2 |
| European charter | 1,303.6 | 1,139.2 | -12.6 |
| North Atlantic | 1,818.2 | 1,694.2 | -6.8 |
| Other long haul | 2,134.2 | 2,006.1 | -6.0 |
| Total | 14,009.3 | 13,302.6 | -5.0 |
* 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
