Fall in BAA airport passengers

[December 12th 2008]

There were 8.9% fewer passengers using BAA’s seven UK airports in November compared to the same month last year.

The dramatic fall in the number of passengers using the UK’s major airports illustrates the crisis facing the industry. Passenger numbers at Gatwick airport in November were down 13.5%, while at another London airport, Stansted, they fell by 13.2%. But the worst hit airport was Glasgow, where passenger numbers were down an alarming 15.6%.

BAA says Gatwick “felt the negative impacts of Open Skies and further airline contractions”, while Stansted “also experienced the effects of airline service cutbacks”. The Open Skies agreement between the UK and US has seen many flights to the US switch from Gatwick to Heathrow.

Heathrow fared best of BAA’s airports, with passenger numbers down by 4.8%. BAA says Heathrow was more resilient “partly because of the continuing effects of additional US services as a result of Open Skies and partly because of its greater share of the stronger long haul markets”.

Explaining the disappointing figures BAA says: “Although the underlying trend has worsened with the start of the reduced winter schedule, the November results were further affected by an industrial dispute causing cancellations of Air France services in mid-month and cancellations of long haul services late in the month as a result of the closure of Bangkok’s International airport”.

The number of air passenger movements – a measure of the number of flights – was down by 9%, almost precisely matching the drop in passenger numbers. In simple terms this means there were less flights available, and hence the lower number of passengers.

“All key markets were affected, the most significant being a drop of 17.0% in European charter traffic at what is normally the market’s quietest period. Domestic traffic was down by 12.7%, European scheduled by 9.1% and North Atlantic by 9.2%. Least affected were other long haul services where the market was down by 3.1%,” reports BAA.

The airport operator, whose airports also include Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Southampton, puts a brave face on things. “BAA expects, on the evidence of historic economic downturns and the resulting effect on air traffic, that the long-term prospects for growth remain good and that passenger volumes will recover in due course”. When this might be is, at present, anyone’s guess.

Written by: Nick Purdom

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