Cold weather boosts BAA

SUN-SEEKING British tourists fuelled more growth at airports operator BAA in November. Chilly weather here meant more people booked tickets to the sun. BAA said all its UK airports recorded increased traffic during in November. The seven airports handled a total of 10.2m passengers, up 3% on the same month last year.

Aberdeen grew the strongest, up 10.9%, while Southampton was 9.9% ahead and Glasgow 5.6% better. A 4.6% rise in traffic levels at Gatwick airport reflected healthy growth in scheduled markets and offset a significant decline in charter traffic, BAA said.

Stansted suffered a big slowdown in growth as it was hit by the fallout of its row with Ryanair over charges. Ryanair has halted its expansion at the airport in favour of the cheaper Luton airport, where it plans dramatic growth.

Having seen year-on-year growth of 8% in October, Stansted slipped to just 4.6% in November for the start of the winter schedule. Previous years have seen growth rates of 20% and more.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary, who has called BAA 'overcharging rapists', said: 'We're not moving out of Stansted but all the growth is going to Luton. Why? Because Luton is cheaper.' {1}While previous months have seen expansion of routes by the Irish carrier, in November it actually cut its total number of routes out of the airport. O'Leary has been predicting a 'bloodbath' in the budget airlines sector but there no clear signs as to who will emerge as a big winner or loser.

Low-cost airlines have been in a bitter dispute with BAA over its plans to phase out introductory discounts on its access charges. They are also furious about BAA's plans to expand the airport at an expected eventual cost of £3.6bn. BAA also suffered from a fall-off in transatlantic traffic. Faced with Presidential elections and Thanksgiving, many Americans opted to stay at home, BAA said. Heathrow traffic grew by just 1.2% - almost halving October's rate.

Despite a drop in the European charter market of 13.4% City analysts were encouraged that BAA chief executive Mike Clasper is not changing the group's prediction that traffic growth for the full year will exceed 6%.

? More than 100 pilots employed by the collapsed Italian low-cost airline Volare attended a recruitment fair hosted by Ryanair in Venice.