BAA traffic commentary: December 2008
For the year 2008, a total of 145.8 million passengers travelled through BAA’s UK airports, an overall drop of 2.8% compared to 2007. During December, BAA’s seven UK airports handled a total of 10.2 million passengers, a decrease of 6.9% on the same month last year.
Compared to 2007, Heathrow’s overall number of passengers dropped by just 1.4% in 2008. Gatwick was down by 2.8% and Stansted witnessed a drop of 6% year on year.
After three months of worsening results the December figures represented a smaller drop than recorded in November, almost certainly attributable to the strength of demand for Christmas-period travel.
Over the month as a whole European scheduled traffic was 6.5% lower and North Atlantic fell by 6.7%. Other long haul routes saw a dip of just 2.8%. UK Domestic and Irish markets both recorded decreases of 8.8%.
Among individual airports Heathrow was down by 2.3%, helped by its greater share of the currently stronger markets and by the continued gains arising from the Open Skies agreement. Gatwick was down overall by 13.8% within which its North Atlantic traffic, partly as a result of Open Skies losses to Heathrow.
Stansted was 13.0% down on last year and Southampton was -5.4%. In Scotland the trend for each airport improved when compared to the November results with Edinburgh -2.5%, Aberdeen -3.2% and Glasgow 10.7% lower. Year on year, the Scottish airports carried 3.6% less passengers in 2008 compared to 2007.
In total the number of air transport movements was 5.8% lower than last December as many airlines trimmed services in line with weakening demand. After a three month sequence of gradually declining figures air cargo tonnage fell by 15.1% in December.
BAA expects, on the evidence of historic economic downturns and the resulting effect on air traffic, that the long-term prospects for growth remain good and that passenger volumes will recover in due course.
BAA traffic summary: December 2008
| Terminal passengers (000s) | Month | % change | Jan to Dec 2008 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 5,251.7 | -2.3 | 66,909.9 | -1.4 |
| Gatwick | 2,090.0 | -13.8 | 34,178.6 | -2.8 |
| Stansted | 1,402.6 | -13.0 | 22,337.5 | -6.0 |
| London area total | 8,744.2 | -7.1 | 123,426.0 | -2.6 |
| Southampton | 126.1 | -5.4 | 1,951.0 | -0.8 |
| Glasgow | 466.0 | -10.7 | 8,137.1 | -6.8 |
| Edinburgh | 606.7 | -2.5 | 8,993.3 | -0.5 |
| Aberdeen | 237.6 | -3.2 | 3,313.3 | -3.5 |
| Scottish total | 1,310.3 | -5.7 | 20,433.6 | -3.6 |
| UK total | 10,180.6 | -6.9 | 145,820.6 | -2.8 |
| Naples | 309.5 | -18.3 | 5,603.0 | -2.3 |
| Air transport movements | Month | % change | Jan to Dec 2008 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 37,081 | -2.3 | 473,139 | -0.5 |
| Gatwick | 17,289 | -9.4 | 256,364 | -0.9 |
| Stansted | 11,235 | -15.7 | 177,157 | -7.5 |
| London area total | 65,605 | -6.8 | 906,660 | -2.1 |
| Southampton | 3,008 | -5.1 | 44,901 | -4.5 |
| Glasgow | 5,587 | -10.2 | 86,767 | -7.3 |
| Edinburgh | 8,116 | -2.2 | 114,428 | -0.6 |
| Aberdeen | 7,920 | 2.6 | 103,227 | -2.2 |
| Scottish total | 21,623 | -2.8 | 304,422 | -3.1 |
| UK total | 90,236 | -5.8 | 1,255,983 | -2.4 |
| Naples | 3,959 | -16.4 | 68,548 | -5.2 |
| Cargo (metric tonnes) | Month | % change | Jan to Dec 2008 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 100,210 | -10.8 | 1,400,568 | 6.6 |
| Gatwick | 6,844 | -52.5 | 107,720 | -37.1 |
| Stansted | 13,936 | -9.7 | 199,487 | -3.4 |
| London area total | 120,990 | -14.9 | 1,707,775 | 1.0 |
| Southampton | 13 | -59.4 | 264 | -10.7 |
| Glasgow | 207 | -10.0 | 3,709 | -13.3 |
| Edinburgh | 893 | -40.2 | 10,249 | -49.0 |
| Aberdeen | 280 | 16.2 | 4,098 | 3.7 |
| Scottish total | 1,380 | -29.7 | 18,056 | -36.3 |
| UK total | 122,383 | -15.1 | 1,726,094 | 0.3 |
| Naples | 106 | -57.8 | 2,231 | -26.1 |
Market comparison - UK airports December 2008
| Market | BAA total December 2007 (000s) | BAA total December 2008 (000s) | % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK & Channel Islands | 1,924.0 | 1,754.0 | -8.8 |
| Ireland | 513.6 | 468.4 | -8.8 |
| European scheduled | 4,337.5 | 4,056.6 | -6.5 |
| European charter* | 431.4 | 338.0 | -21.6 |
| North Atlantic | 1,514.9 | 1,413.9 | -6.7 |
| Other long haul | 2,212.3 | 2,149.7 | -2.8 |
| Total | 10,933.8 | 10,180.6 | -6.9 |
Market comparison - calendar year 2008
| Market | BAA total Jan to Dec 2007 (000s) | BAA total Jan to Dec 2008 (000s) | % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK & Channel Islands | 26,214.6 | 24,667.9 | -5.9 |
| Ireland | 6,695.2 | 6,563.1 | -2.0 |
| European scheduled | 62,000.3 | 60,947.4 | -1.7 |
| European charter* | 9,846.5 | 9,119.2 | -7.4 |
| North Atlantic | 19,626.8 | 19,182.3 | -2.3 |
| Other long haul | 25,570.5 | 25,340.8 | -0.9 |
| Total | 149,953.8 | 145,820.6 | -2.8 |
* includes North African charter
Note: Origins and destinations are classified according to ultimate origin or destination of aircraft in the case of multi-sector flights.
Note: Figures for the market sectors have been rounded. Totals as per Traffic Summary.
