Drop in Scots airport passengers in July and further decline of Glasgow
during the same month last year.
BAA said.
numbers increase slightly by 0.6% to 961,000.
its busiest ever month in July 2010, with a total of 6.7 million passengers passing
through the west London airport.
drops of 7.2% and 1.4% respectively.
seven months of this year – a 4.5% drop on the January-July 2009 total.
to Glasgow, only three years after it took over as Scotland’s favourite airport,
new figures show.
airport, a marginal improvement year-on-year, while both Glasgow and Aberdeen
airports saw a further dip in passenger numbers.
compared to two years ago, the figures by owner BAA showed.
UK’s biggest airport, which saw its busiest month on record in July as well as
its busiest day, with 232,000 passengers on July 18.
increase in passengers travelling to and from the continent, while long-haul traffic
increased by 0.4%. However, domestic traffic – much of it between Scotland and
London – was 4.6% lower than last year.
At the individual airports, Aberdeen’s traffic fell by 4.1%, Edinburgh grew by
0.6% and Glasgow recorded a drop of 3.6%.
with a huge drop in passenger numbers and several airlines going out of business
in 2009, followed by the crisis caused by shutting down European airspace earlier
this year due to ash from an volcano eruption in Iceland.
recession are down to the capital’s stronger economic performance and its attraction
as a tourist destination. Much of the growth has been down to the expansion of
Ryanair, which has a base there. But it has also gained over Glasgow and Aberdeen
as airlines have chosen to consolidate their operations over the last two years,
experts claimed.
to charge a £1 fee for people dropping off or picking up passengers.
on a petition against the move and urged the airport’s new managing director,
Kevin Brown, to reconsider the move.
said. "People are strongly against it now, but it is only when it comes into force
that we will see real resentment about this drop-off-rip-off charge."
out on the forecourt at peak times and despite there only being spaces for 15
to 18 cars, when I was there I saw 35 cars," he said yesterday.
I don’t think anybody is happy about having to pay £1 – nobody wants to pay –
but there’s an understanding about the amount of investment we’re putting into
the airport."
of a planned rail link by the Scottish Government, have been exacerbated by competition
from nearby Prestwick Airport.
June, with nearly 175,000 people travelling through the airport – nearly 50,000
fewer than in 2008.
a hugely challenging year, he was confident that passenger demand is strengthening.
encouraging and reflects the strength of our long-haul network and a renewed confidence
in the charter market," he said.
In July BAA’s airports handled 0.3% more passengers than in July 2009
to July 2009 (which was itself up +0.9% compared to July 2008). However, for
BAA’s UK airports as a whole, passengers were up by only + 03% this July, and
they were down yet again at Stansted, – 7.2%. Passengers were down -3.6% at Glasgow,
down – 1.4% at Southampton, down – 4.1% at Aberdeen, but up +0.6% at Edinburgh.
Air transport movements were down slightly – 0.4% for all BAA’s UK airports, and
air cargo was up by +17.9% .
said. Across all airports, European passengers increased by +2.9%, while long-haul
traffic was up by +0.5%. But domestic traffic was -4.6% lower than last year.
10.8.2010