April 2012 traffic figures – BAA’s airports

9.1 million passengers travelled through BAA’s airports in April, a 0.1% increase on the same month last year. Year-on-year comparisons for the month are complicated by the timing of Easter so combining March and April traffic reveals a year on year increase of 1.9%.

5.8 million passengers passed through Heathrow during April, marginally up on April 2011, another record month for the airport.

Heathrow’s load factors continued to increase, rising 0.1 percentage points in April, to 76.4%. The average number of seats per aircraft was also up, rising 1.1% to 197.6. Both increases are consistent with the airport having reached its cap on the number of flights.

Cargo movement was down 1.1% across the group and 2.5% at Heathrow, in line with the global economic climate.

The decline in Stansted’s passenger numbers moderated to 2.7%, its lowest level in nearly a year. Aberdeen passenger numbers improved by 11.0%, reflecting the strength in energy related traffic, whilst Glasgow recorded a 6.7% increase. Edinburgh Airport, the sale of which was agreed in April to Global Infrastructure Partners for GBP 807.2m, saw passenger numbers down -1.1%.

Domestic traffic was up 2.7% across the Group in April, whilst European scheduled traffic was up 1.3%, reflecting a rise in business traffic after the Easter holiday period.

Traffic between Heathrow and Brazil, India and China continued to grow on last year, with the highest increase coming from Brazil at 11.7%.

BAA Chief Executive, Colin Matthews, said: “These are encouraging figures for Heathrow and BAA’s other airports. However, the modest growth in passenger numbers at Heathrow, the UK’s only hub airport, comes from larger and fuller aircraft, not from more routes and frequencies to emerging markets. This lack of connectivity is damaging the UK economy.”