Fog-bound BAA lifts passenger numbers

BAA today said its UK airports handled 10.9 million passengers in December, a 1.6% rise on the figure seen in the previous year.

The improvement came despite all of BAA’s seven UK airports being affected by the foggy conditions in the traditionally busy week before Christmas.

The airport company, which is now owned by Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial, estimates the loss in traffic handled was around 175,000 passengers or 1.7% of the expected total, according to a trading update.

Domestic services were the worst affected by the bad weather, with traffic down 5.8% for the month.

In terms of individual airports, the disruption hit Heathrow most, with traffic down 2.4% for December.

However, Gatwick saw an 8.8% increase in the month, helping its annual passenger number pass 34 million for the first time.

Across the group, BAA’s UK airports handled 147.7 million passengers in 2006, an increase of 2.3% on 2005.

BAA said that the bad weather meant air transport movements at its UK airports were down 1.2% to 95,934 for the month. Cargo tonnage, the total cargo transported, was also significantly reduced in December, by 15.3%.