BAA Reports May 2011 Traffic

BAA’s six airports handled 9.3 million passengers last month, the busiest ever May for Heathrow (5.9 million) and Edinburgh (826,000). The two airports also saw their busiest ever spring (March, April and May).

For the first time ever, the moving annual total number of passengers at Heathrow topped 68 million. Heathrow’s passenger numbers grew by 11.6% over May 2010 which was affected by volcanic ash and industrial action. Accounting for these impacts leaves Heathrow with an estimated underlying 5.2% increase for the month of May. For the year to date Heathrow’s traffic is up 9.8% with underlying growth of 2.7%.

Traffic at the group’s six airports increased by 9.2% over last May. The late Easter holidays and Royal Wedding led to more passengers at the beginning of the month whereas the Grímsvötn eruption in Iceland led only to a marginal decrease in traffic. Stripping out the negative effects of events in 2010, the group recorded underlying growth of 1.7% in the year to date.

Both Edinburgh and Aberdeen recorded double digit increases in the month (13.7% and 11.8% respectively) with underlying growth for the year to date of 6.9% and 7% respectively. Traffic at Glasgow increased 7% in May 2011 whilst the underlying growth for the year to date was 1.3%.

Stansted saw its second consecutive monthly rise (0.7%) for the first time since October 2007, although on a year to date basis the underlying decline is 4%, reflecting the transfer of capacity by low-cost airlines to continental Europe. Southampton’s traffic was down 1.1% in the month, and down 7% on an underlying year to date basis, largely as a result of a drop in European scheduled traffic.

Cargo tonnage was down by 5.6% at group level and by 5.9% at Heathrow. This reflects the fact that May 2010 was a particularly strong month for air cargo resulting from a backlog of freight not flown during the April volcanic ash shutdown.

See recent travel news from: Travel News Asia, BAA, May 2011