Despite a rise in passenger numbers at five of its six airports in September, BAA’s CEO Colin Matthews is not optimistic about the coming months.
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton last month saw a rise in passenger numbers of 3%, 3.2%, 11.3% and 0.7% respectively, compared to September 2010.
Stansted Airport, however, saw a 4% drop in passenger volume, which BAA said was due to planned cuts in services by airlines.
Heathrow meanwhile saw a rise in passengers of 1.4% in September, but Matthews said “slightly softer” traffic in the latter part of the month gave cause for caution in looking ahead.
“Vigilance in the near term from individual carriers and problems facing the European economy make us cautious about predicting traffic growth trends in the coming months,” he said.
Matthews warned that capacity constraints in the UK mean British airports are lagging behind its European counterparts in terms of growth, particularly to emerging markets.
“Paris and Frankfurt already boast 1,000 more annual flights to China’s three largest cities than Heathrow,” he said.
“The UK is not just missing out on flight connections, but the economic growth these links bring.”
www.baa.com