BAA passenger numbers rise less in November because of snow and bad weather

10.12.2010   (BBC)

Airports operator BAA has said that passenger numbers did not grow as much as
expected last month because of the cold weather.

Passenger numbers across its six UK airports were up 1% from a year ago to 7.9
million, but BAA said the rise would have been 2.7% without the snow.

Snow disruption hit Edinburgh airport, with passenger numbers down by -3.9%.

BAA chief executive Colin Matthews said it was “a tough month for passengers”
with “the worst snow for decades”.

However, international passenger numbers were unaffected by the weather and the
number of passengers using Heathrow, the main international airport, hit 5.24
million, a rise of 4.3% over November 2009 and the fifth consecutive monthly record.

At Stansted, numbers fell 7.6%, but BAA said this was largely due to a fall in
low-cost airline capacity.

The biggest growth in demand was for travel to China (up 9.7%) and India (up
5.3%), two of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11966840

 

see also

 

BAA press release

 

November traffic figures – BAA’s airports

10 December 2010

Resilient airports deliver growth with fuller planes
  • Heathrow sets fifth consecutive monthly traffic record, up 4.3%
  • BAA group traffic up 1.0%
  • Strong long-haul growth to North America, China and India

Passenger traffic at Heathrow grew 4.3 percent during November against the same
month last year, leading to a fifth consecutive record month.

The aviation industry has continued its efficiency drive with a continuing rise
in load factors – showing how full planes are – at Heathrow (up 1.0%) to 71.7%
and at group level (up 1.3%) to 72.1%.

However, fog, snow and strong winds across the UK and Northern Europe hit passenger
numbers by around 130,000 across BAA’s six airports. Without the bad weather,
the underlying result would have been an increase of 2.7%.

Heathrow:  

At Heathrow, domestic traffic was up 3.2%, while European scheduled traffic rose
7.5%.    North Atlantic services carried 4.4% more passengers and other long haul
routes recorded a collective increase of 2.1%.   China (including Hong Kong) rose
by 9.7% and India increased 5.3%,
reflecting how important these links are to securing the UK’s economic future.

As a whole, BAA’s airports handled 7.9 million passengers during November, up
1.0 percent compared with the same period last year.   Domestic traffic was the
only major market to see a decrease, down -3.6 percent due mainly to weather disruption.

A reduction in low-cost airline capacity was the main factor behind the drop
of – 7.6% at Stansted, while at Southampton most of the – 3.2% decrease can be
attributed to the adverse weather late in the month.

Scotland:

Without the severe weather in Scotland and elsewhere, Glasgow would have reached
last year’s November total. However, as a result of the snow, volumes fell by
0.8 percent. Snow disruption was worst in the east of Scotland, and Edinburgh
(down 3.9 percent) lost at least 50,000 passengers while Aberdeen (down 1.9 percent)
lost around 15,000.

Cargo:

Cargo tonnage at Heathrow rose by 3.7 percent and for the group as a whole it
was up by 2.8 percent, indicating that the global economic recovery is continuing
as retailers ready their warehouses and stores for the Christmas rush.

 

Business commentary and outlook

Heathrow’s resilience in performing well despite the poor weather shows how well
prepared it has been and also reflects strong demand for long-haul travel. Because
business travellers make up a third of its passengers, with more than half living
outside the UK, Heathrow is less reliant on the British consumer sector and performs
in line with the broader international economic environment and UK export sector
which continues to improve.

Conversely, the recovery in leisure traffic elsewhere has remained subdued, in part because
of carriers relocating to foreign bases.

Colin Matthews, chief executive of BAA, said:

"It has been a tough month for passengers with the worst snow for decades but
people understand that safety comes first. We have invested in winter preparations
and have worked around the clock to keep our airports running. But it is not just
about clearing snow, it’s also about landing and take-off rates and weather at
destination airports. Heathrow and Stansted have remained open throughout, but
elsewhere and across Europe some airport closures were inevitable.

"Despite a further increase in passengers at Heathrow we have kept queues ¹ down,
returned people’s bags quicker ² and improved passengers’ journeys.

"Heathrow’s £5 billion investment programme continues, modernising Terminal 3
and building a brand new Terminal 2 – the biggest private development in the country.
We have a long way to go but real progress has been made in cutting queues, improving
service and upgrading the older terminals.

"Airlines are benefiting from the improving economic climate and from having
fuller aircraft, allowing us to make better use of the scarce resources we have
at Heathrow. We’re adjusting our landing charges to further incentivise greener,
more efficient aircraft to benefit the industry, passengers and local community.

“On-going strong performance at Heathrow shows that the global recovery continues
as we head towards Christmas and into the New Year."

BAA traffic summary:  November 2010

 

Terminal passengers (000s)Month% changeJan to Nov 2010% changeDec 2009 to Nov 2010% change
Heathrow

5,243.2

4.3

60,938.0

0.6

66,254.1

0.6

Stansted

1,212.3

-7.6

17,346.5

-6.7

18,713.1

-6.4

London area total

6,455.5

1.8

78,284.5

-1.1

84,967.3

-1.0

Southampton

127.0

-3.2

1,641.8

-1.8

1,760.5

-2.1

Glasgow

485.2

-0.8

6,167.8

-9.2

6,592.6

-9.2

Edinburgh

622.1

-3.9

8,123.9

-4.1

8,703.9

-4.1

Aberdeen

226.2

-1.9

2,579.7

-7.4

2,794.9

-7.5

Scottish total

1,333.5

-2.4

16,871.4

-6.5

18,091.5

-6.5

UK total

7,916.0

1.0

96,797.7

-2.1

104,819.2

-2.0

Naples

370.6

7.0

5,179.2

4.9

5,533.5

5.5

 

 

 

Air transport movementsMonth% changeJan to  Nov 2010% changeDec  2009 to  Nov 2010% change
Heathrow

38,004

2.6

416,739

-1.5

453,660

-1.4

Stansted

9,802

-11.7

133,446

-8.1

144,469

-7.7

London area total

47,806

-0.7

550,185

-3.2

598,129

-3.0

Southampton

3,028

-2.2

38,123

0.8

40,859

0.1

Glasgow

5,633

3.7

65,019

-6.2

69,979

-6.6

Edinburgh

7,609

-4.8

95,151

-4.7

102,404

-5.1

Aberdeen

7,280

-6.3

83,707

-6.6

90,931

-6.8

Scottish total

20,522

-3.2

243,877

-5.7

263,314

-6.1

UK total

71,356

-1.5

832,185

-3.8

902,302

-3.8

Naples

4,379

-1.5

59,289

-1.1

63,392

-0.8

 

 

Cargo (metric tonnes)Month% changeJan to  Nov 2010% changeDec  2009 to Nov 2010% change
Heathrow

127,961

3.7

1,364,171

17.8

1,484,379

18.0

Stansted

17,461

-1.6

186,582

11.2

202,459

11.4

London area total

145,422

3.0

1,550,752

17.0

1,686,839

17.1

Southampton

22

16.6

114

-39.8

134

-34.0

Glasgow

349

119.0

3,411

36.8

3,630

34.4

Edinburgh

1,658

-19.7

19,316

-12.4

21,332

-7.0

Aberdeen

404

19.0

4,723

3.3

5,072

4.5

Scottish total

2,411

-6.0

27,450

-5.7

30,033

-1.5

UK total

147,855

2.8

1,578,317

16.5

1,717,006

16.8

Naples

114

-32.7

1,715

-8.4

1,829

-7.5

Market comparison – UK airports November 2010

 

MarketBAA total  Nov 2009 (000s)BAA total  Nov 2010 (000s)% change
UK & Channel Islands

1,545.2

1,490.3

-3.6

Ireland

364.8

351.8

-3.5

European scheduled

3,101.2

3,169.3

2.2

European charter*

76.4

81.2

6.2

North Atlantic

1,057.5

1,103.5

4.3

Other long haul

1,693.1

1,719.9

1.6

Total

7,838.2

7,916.0

1.0

* 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.

Notes to editors:

 

For the first nine months of 2010 Heathrow passengers passed through security
in less than five minutes 97.9 percent of the time.

In October, baggage arrived on carousels on average 34 minutes after the plane
touched down. This is one minute ahead of our target of 35 minutes, and three
minutes quicker than our 2009 figure of 37 minutes.

link to BAA press release

 

 

by comparison, see the BAA press release a year ago, for November 2009

 

November traffic figures – BAA’s airports

BAA’s UK airports handled a total of 9.9m passengers in November. This amounted
to an increase of 0.8% over the same month last year. More significantly it marked
the first time since March 2008 that BAA’s airports have recorded a collective
increase, and follows a six-month run of gradually improving results


10 December 2009