BAA”s seven UK airports handled 11.6m passengers in March, an increase of 7.7% on the same month last year. The numbers were helped by an early Easter holiday. Stripped of the Easter effect, the underlying increase for March is estimated at 5%. For the financial year-end March 2005, 141.7m people passed through the airports, an increase of 6.3% against the previous financial year. European scheduled markets increased 9.7%, helped by a 21% increase in passenger numbers carried by low cost airlines. North Atlantic markets were 3.3% higher and traffic on other long haul routes added 14.1%. Despite the earlier Easter, European charter markets declined 1.9% reflecting continued competitive pressures. UK domestic routes recorded 4% growth. Individually all the airports reported increases in March. Gatwick (see left) benefited most from the early Easter and recorded the highest growth during the calendar month at 15.4%. Passenger numbers exceeded 32m during the financial year, the first time numbers have broken this barrier since September 2001. Heathrow was 5.2% up on the previous year while Stansted increased 9.1%.
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