Passenger record for BAA

AIRPORT operator BAA shrugged off last month's chaos at Heathrow to report a record August at its seven airports around the country.

The group said it handled 14.2m passengers, a rise of 3.7% on last year.

Heathrow passenger numbers rose by 2% to 6.3m despite delays and cancellations because of staff shortages at British Airways, its biggest customer. Cargo tonnage at the airport soared by 13%.

Passenger growth at Gatwick was restricted to 2.1% as package holiday charter operators cut services.

Stansted and Southampton, home to budget airlines Ryanair and FlyBe, reported growth of 9% and 8% respectively. Growth at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports was 6%.

BAA's strongest markets were non-American long-haul, up 9%, and scheduled European services, up 8%, which offset an 11% collapse in European charter services.

The figures compare with an official 4.2% rise in the number of flights in Britain as reported by National Air Traffic Services.

The air traffic controller said it also had a record August, handling 200,162 flights in the month following on from its July record, the first time it had ever handled more than 200,000 in a month. Nats said transatlantic arrivals and departures were up 6%.