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February traffic figures at BAA's airports - passengers up +2.4% on Feb 2009

BAA traffic commentary: February 2010

BAA's UK traffic grew 2.4% last month compared to February 2009, which was affected by severe weather.

BAA's UK airports handled a total of 7.13 million passengers in February, an increase of 2.4% on the same month last year. February 2009 saw passenger traffic affected by heavy snow across the UK.

Heathrow traffic grew 5.3%, as it was largely free of snow in February 2010 and remains more resilient than other UK airports. The underlying figure - adjusted to take account of the weather problems last year - is 2.7%.

Stansted's traffic declined by 4.5% compared to last February, demonstrating that the market remains challenging. Southampton grew 5.9% with most of the gain attributable to the recovery from bad weather this time last year.

Glasgow (down 5.0%) and Aberdeen (down 4.6%) were relatively unaffected by the snow of last year but Edinburgh (up 3.5%) gained not only because of weather but also from additional rugby related traffic. Traffic at Naples grew by 5.4%.

Colin Matthews, BAA’s chief executive officer, said: “Heathrow remains resilient and other airports are beginning to see encouraging signs. However traffic remains depressed, reflecting tough conditions in the economy generally and in aviation specifically.”

For the first time in two years, domestic traffic across BAA was up, by 1.1%. European scheduled services recorded a 2.6% increase and North Atlantic traffic was up by 2.7% despite several periods of heavy snow in the Mid-West and North Eastern parts of the US.

Other long haul traffic rose by 4.0% overall with strong contributions from services to China (up 6.8%), the Middle East (up 11.1%) and South America (up 17.6%).

In total the Group recorded a drop of 0.2% in the number of air transport movements (Heathrow up 2.1%) and an increase of 23.2% in the tonnage of cargo handled. This latter result represents the third consecutive month of double-digit increases in cargo and closely matches experience of the global air-freight industry.

BAA traffic summary: February 2010

Terminal passengers (000s)	Month	% change	Jan to Feb 2010	% change	Mar 2009 to Feb 2010	% change
Heathrow	4,600.4	5.3	9,430.5	2.2	66,114.4	-0.4
Stansted	1,238.1	-4.5	2,454.0	-5.0	19,821.8	-9.6
London area total	5,838.5	3.0	11,884.5	0.6	85,936.2	-2.6
Southampton	114.9	5.9	209.9	-1.8	1,787.4	-6.4
Glasgow	400.6	-5.0	787.4	-8.7	7,144.9	-10.5
Edinburgh	582.1	3.5	1,095.4	-1.9	9,025.6	1.6
Aberdeen	195.0	-4.6	378.2	-9.2	2,962.0	-9.0
Scottish total	1,177.7	-0.9	2,261.0	-5.6	19,132.4	-4.9
UK total	7,131.1	2.4	14,355.4	-0.4	106,856.0	-3.1
Naples	312.7	5.4	621.0	8.4	5,338.7	-2.5

Air transport movements	Month	% change	Jan to Feb 2010	% change	Mar 2009 to Feb 2010	% change
Heathrow	35,061	2.1	71,189	-1.5	458,931	-2.2
Stansted	10,534	-1.0	21,827	-3.3	155,490	-9.9
London area total	45,595	1.3	93,016	-1.9	614,421	-4.3
Southampton	2,728	1.5	5,275	-3.6	40,362	-8.3
Glasgow	4,825	-5.9	9,605	-9.8	73,226	-13.7
Edinburgh	7,473	-1.9	14,651	-6.7	105,996	-5.8
Aberdeen	6,888	-4.5	13,478	-9.2	95,499	-6.3
Scottish total	19,186	-3.9	37,734	-8.4	274,721	-8.2
UK total	67,509	-0.2	136,025	-3.9	929,504	-5.7
Naples	3,850	-5.7	7,936	-3.8	63,715	-5.7

Cargo (metric tonnes)	Month	% change	Jan to Feb 2010	% change	Mar 2009 to Feb 2010	% change
Heathrow	113,021	24.1	219,321	19.4	1,313,991	-3.9
Stansted	15,437	23.7	30,602	18.8	188,444	-2.1
London area total	128,458	24.1	249,923	19.4	1,502,435	-3.7
Southampton	7	-45.5	19	-29.8	201	-12.5
Glasgow	208	49.4	406	56.2	2,859	-14.0
Edinburgh	1,553	-18.3	3,094	-22.0	23,197	96.9
Aberdeen	355	-11.3	715	-11.7	4,826	13.5
Scottish total	2,116	-13.3	4,215	-16.3	30,882	59.5
UK total	130,581	23.2	254,157	18.5	1,533,518	-2.9
Naples	238	45.3	363	16.6	2,038	-0.7

Market comparison - UK airports February 2010

Market	BAA total Feb 2009 (000s)	BAA total Feb 2010 (000s)	% change
UK & Channel Islands	1,340.3	1,355.7	1.1
Ireland	338.6	324.2	-4.2
European scheduled	2,815.9	2,889.7	2.6
European charter*	90.4	99.0	9.5
North Atlantic	858.5	881.5	2.7
Other long haul	1,520.7	1,581.1	4.0
Total	6,964.4	7,131.1	2.4

* Includes North African charter

Note: Origins and destinations are classified according to ultimate origin or destination of aircraft in the case of multi-sector flights.

Note: Figures for the market sectors have been rounded. Totals as per Traffic Summary.

Link to BAA February figures

by comparison, see the Gatwick figures for February

Passengers and air cargo up at Gatwick during February

10th March 2010 During February, compared to Feb 2009 passengers were up 3.2%, ATMs were up by 3.5% and air cargo was up by 38.9%. Cargo tonnage grew for the fourth consecutive month but remains down on a rolling 12 month basis. European scheduled services have grown 10.5% while European charter was down 11.6%. North Atlantic passengers were down by 21.1%. Other long haul was up 7%. A year ago, all were considerably down on Feb 2008. Click here to view full story...

UK-to-US traffic down 10% in 2009; Heathrow’s share of market jumps from 60% to 75% in two years

9th March 2010 In 2009 there was a 10% fall in passengers on UK-US routes, compared to 2008. This was the lowest level since 1997 and a long way short of the 20 million which the growth in the market during the late 90s would have suggested. Only 14% of UK-US flights are from airports other than Gatwick and Heathrow. Heathrow’s share has leapt from 61% in 2007 to 70% in 2008 and 76% in 2009. Gatwick US flights fell by 31% in 2009. (anna aero) Click here to view full story...

(10th March 2010)

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