Passenger boom continues at Stansted

Airports operator BAA today said Stansted continued its prolific growth with a 10.7% rise in passengers last month against a year earlier.

The airport in Essex , England, which handled 20 million passengers in a year for the first time in May, saw 1.84 million people pass through its terminal in June, BAA said.

The boom in low-cost air travel has helped Stansted – the fourth biggest airport in the UK – to the annual 20 million mark.

BAA said Stansted achieved the fastest growth of its London airports.

Heathrow was second, with 7% growth to 5.93 million passengers, while Gatwick was third, seeing passenger numbers expand by 5.1% to 3.08 million.

Overall, passenger traffic at BAA’s London airports grew by 7.1% to 10.85 million compared with the same month a year earlier.

BAA said growth in long- and short-haul scheduled traffic at Gatwick and Heathrow offset a 6% decline in short-haul charters.

The group said its Scottish airports recorded a 6.3% increase in traffic against June last year, with 1.81 million people passing through Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow.

Its other UK airport, Southampton, handled about 137,500 passengers during the month, a 13.1% rise.

Overall, the group saw passenger numbers rise by 7% to 12.8 million. During the first quarter of 2004/5, BAA’s UK airports handled 36 million passengers, representing an increase of 9.7% compared with the first quarter last year.

The North Atlantic market experienced growth of 8.2%, other long-haul markets added 17.8% and European scheduled traffic increased by 9.6%.

Domestic traffic also increased, adding 4.5%, while short-haul charter traffic declined by 6%.

In May, BAA posted a 4.9% rise in yearly operating profits to £616m (€921.5m) in the year to March 31, while pre-tax profits before exceptional items lifted 2.3% to £536m (€801.9m).

The group said at the time that it believed “robust” passenger growth would continue despite the uncertain political outlook.