BAA boosted by home traffic

A BOOM in domestic air travel is making up for the continued no-show of American visitors, latest BAA figures show. The airports group responsible for Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Edinburgh and Glasgow, said 10.7m passengers went through its terminals last month, a rise of 0.8% from the same month last year.

That compares with an underlying 0.7% year-on-year fall in April and indicates the aviation industry is slowly emerging from the collapse in business after last September's terrorist attacks.

However, the mix in BAA's business-is shifting. Last month, passenger numbers on flights around the UK and to the Irish Republic leapt by more than 9% and the low-cost airline hubs of Stansted and Scotland reported double-digit growth. North Atlantic passengers, however, were down 4.6% and, reflecting the general global economic malaise, passenger numbers on other long-haul routes were down 3.5%.

British Airways' gradual withdrawal from Gatwick sent its traffic down nearly 12% while there was a modest 1.4% rise at Heathrow, which accounts for around half of BAA's business.