Royal wedding boost for airports

17 June 2011 10:04

Passenger traffic at BAA's six airports in the UK rose 9.2% year-on-year to 9.34 million in May

Passenger traffic at BAA's six airports in the UK rose 9.2% year-on-year to 9.34 million in May

Passenger traffic at BAA's six airports in the UK rose 9.2% year-on-year to 9.34 million in May, mainly driven by the royal wedding, according to new figures released by the airport operator.

The rise in passenger traffic could also have led to an increase in the number of people taking out travel insurance.

Passenger numbers at Heathrow rose 11.6% year-on-year to over 5.8 million, the airport's highest-ever May figure.

Edinburgh Airport also saw its busiest-ever May, handling nearly 826,000 passengers, up 13.7% from the corresponding period in 2010.

Passenger traffic at Stansted rose 0.7% in May, while Southampton Airport saw a 1.1% fall in numbers.

Aberdeen and Glasgow numbers were up 11.8% and 7.0% respectively in May.

BAA said the second Iceland ash cloud problem only had a marginal effect on passenger numbers.

The company added that the "rolling year" figure, for the 12 months ended May 2011, showed that passenger traffic at Heathrow crossed the 68 million mark for the first time.

Passenger traffic at BAA's six airports reached nearly 41.32 million in the first five months of 2011, up 8.6% year-on-year.

Colin Matthews, chief executive of BAA, said: "Demand is particularly strong on the long-haul routes that connect UK businesses to fast-growing economies around the world."

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