War and SARS cut air passenger numbers

The SARS crisis and the effects of the Iraq war drove long-haul passenger numbers down last month, figures from airport operator BAA revealed today.

North Atlantic traffic at BAA’s seven UK airports fell 5.4% this April compared with April 2002, while traffic to other long-haul destinations was down 7.5%.

SARS and the war also hit passenger numbers at the UK’s biggest airport, Heathrow, which handled 3.4% fewer passengers last month despite the Easter rush.

Thanks to a 17.9% rise in European charter traffic, passengers handled at the seven BAA airports in April rose 1.6% to 9.89 million.

But taking March and April results together to eliminate the distorting effects of Easter falling later this year, passenger numbers were down 0.8% compared with March-April 2002.

Taking April 2003 alone, Southampton enjoyed a 42% rise in passenger numbers compared with April 2002, thanks to the opening of new budget airline routes.

Gatwick rose 7.9%, Stansted was up 4.4%, Glasgow increased 9.1% and Edinburgh had a 10.5% rise. Aberdeen numbers fell 3.2%.

Domestic traffic rose 8.6% last month, while in Ireland, passenger numbers were 3.4% higher.

European scheduled service numbers increased 1%.

In the 12 months to the end of April 2003, the seven airports handled 127.8 million passengers – a 5.3% increase on the 12 months ending April 2002.