11 November 2010
BAA Ltd reported a 3.4% increase in passenger numbers for October 2010, boosted by a recovery in the level of business travel. Total passenger numbers across its six airports rose by 318,000 to 9.75 million in October 2010, helped by a 1.2% increase in the number of flights compared to last year.

At Heathrow, BAA reported a 6.0% increase in flights and a 1.0% increase in passenger load factors, with an average 77.2% of seats occupied. Passenger numbers at Heathrow increased by 7.2%, up 410,000 to 6.1 million.

At Edinburgh Airport, passenger numbers were up by 3.5% to 854,000, the encouraging performance attributable in part to an increase in business traffic. Southampton increased by 1.0% (from 155,000 to 157,000) as European travel boosted figures across the group.

Passenger numbers from Stansted fell by 3.1% to 1.72 million, with the lower numbers pointing to depressed leisure traffic. Both Glasgow (down 7.4% to 662,000) and Aberdeen (down 5.0% to 264,000) continued to experience a period of contracting traffic.

Cargo activity remained strong with a 12.5% increase in tonnage handled. Heathrow outperformed this with a 14.7% improvement.

Heathrow Airport website