Following on from an article we published in March which highlighted air travel passenger numbers falling for first time in 17 years, BAA, the worlds leading airport company, has reported a further slump in passenger numbers at Gatwick and Stansted.

Passenger numbers at BAA airports have fallen 10% in the first three months of 2009, according to the company’s first quarter figures, with numbers at Gatwick and Stansted dropping by 14.6% compared with 2008. Heathrow has proved more resilient, with numbers down 6.4%.

BAA’s pre-tax losses increased from £55.6 million to £316.2 million, while revenues rose 15.5%.

Snow at Gatwick Airport, one of the things blamed for poor performance

Losses were partially blamed on the depreciation in value of Terminal 5 whilst poor performance was blamed on the recession, heavy snow in early February and the absence of Easter in the first three months this year.

The long-haul market, according to BAA, continues to perform better than the overall market, with traffic reported to be down 8% to 9.4 million passengers, but European passenger traffic declined 10.9% to 13 million.

Domestic traffic saw the biggest hit, with passenger numbers down 12.6% to 2.4 million.

BAA chief executive Colin Matthews revealed that “[results were in line with expectations] in the most difficult economic circumstances”.

“The rest of the year will be difficult and will present more challenges, but our focus remains on raising service standards and maximising efficiency,” he added.

Photo credit: a shadow of my future self

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