Foul weather boosts numbers at Heathrow
Heathrow passenger numbers jumped in July in what was one of the airport's busiest ever months, operator BAA said today.
Overall, the credit crunch meant BAA's airports carried 2.4% fewer passengers than in July 2008, although that was better than the 5.9% and 7.3% declines in June and May respectively.
Travel operators report that British families are changing their minds about staying in the UK for their holidays thanks to the miserable weather. This has led to a surge in late bookings which should benefit BAA this month.
Heathrow passenger numbers were up 0.9% at 6.5 million passengers although Stansted was down 5.7% and Gatwick was off 4.8%.
Analysts said the Heathrow figure would have been skewed by the fact that airlines including British Airways had been slashing prices to encourage more people to fly.
The growth of Heathrow highlighted how long haul flying had returned to growth. Passenger numbers going to Europe grew 1.2%, and 4.8% more flew long-haul, excluding the North American routes.
Overall, BAA's airports handled 14.5 million passengers in July. The biggest gain was at Stansted, where a decline of 11.5% in June was reduced to being 5.7% down on a year ago.
