Passenger numbers through BAA’s seven UK airports slumped last month, as the after effects of 11 September were felt.
The group said its airports handled 9.8m passengers in October – down 12% on the same month last year.
Heathrow and Gatwick were heavily affected, with passenger numbers down 20.1% and 12.7% respectively, with North Atlantic traffic through the airports slumping more than 30%.
However, Stansted continued to grow, up 4.9%, while Edinburgh was up 13.4% and Glasgow up 6.6%. Aberdeen was down 2.1%, while Southampton was 5.8% lower.
BAA said the North Atlantic and other long haul markets continued to be worst affected by the terrorist attacks of 11 September, with the North Atlantic market down 31.3% in October and other long haul traffic down 16.4%.
BAA said pretax profits for the six months to 30 September – which were impacted by both the foot-and-mouth outbreak and the terrorist attacks – increased by 2.1% to £333m, stripping out joint ventures and one-off costs.
In the current financial year, it expects security costs and other charges such as insurance – as a result of the 11 September events – to add up to around £10m.
EGi News 12/11/01
