BAA reports rise in passenger numbers

Airports operator BAA today said passenger numbers at its seven British sites grew in 2005 – despite a marked slump in charter flights.

Across the year it handled 144.34 million people – an increase of 3% on 2004 - though there was an 8.7% fall in European charter traffic as some airlines continued the trend of diversifying into scheduled flying to compete against low-cost carriers.