Rise in Heathrow passengers signals soft landing for BAA

Planes line up to land at Heathrow. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Heathrow reported its third busiest month on record today, as July passenger numbers indicated that the UK's main airport is recovering from the recession.

Airport group BAA said Heathrow handled 6.5 million passengers last month, up nearly 1% on the same period last year. A reduction in flights at the airport, plus the increase in passengers, resulted in Heathrow recording its highest ever figure for the average number of passengers per plane, at 162. Total long-haul traffic, excluding North America, was up by 5.5%.

Passenger numbers across BAA's seven UK airports - which include Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen - also showed strong signs of recovery, although the overall number was still negative. BAA handled 14.5 million travellers in total, a decline of 2.4% on July 2008. However, the fall compares with declines of 5.9% in June and 7.3% in May. BAA said the data was "further evidence of stabilising passenger figures across the group".

Glasgow was BAA's worst performer, reporting a 13% dip in passengers with Stansted the worst performing London airport as it recorded a 5.7% fall in passenger numbers due to Ryanair and easyJet cutting back services.

The strongest perfoming market was long-haul destinations excluding the US and Canada, which saw a 4.8% increase in travellers. However, in bad news for airlines the highly profitable North America route remains very weak and passenger numbers were down 8%, although Heathrow fared better and reported a 2.1% decline in North American traffic.

One week after the transport secretary, Lord Adonis, called for the demise of domestic air travel, BAA also confirmed an ongoing decline in UK-only flights. Domestic air travel at its airports fell 4.8% as it handled 109,000 fewer travellers.

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