Airports operator BAA today said Stansted continued its prolific growth with a 10.7% rise in passengers last month against a year earlier.

The Essex airport, which handled 20 million passengers in a year for the first time in May, saw 1.84 million people pass through its terminal in June, BAA said.

The boom in low-cost air travel has helped Stansted - the fourth biggest airport in the UK - to the annual 20 million mark.

BAA said Stansted achieved the fastest growth of its London airports.

Heathrow was second, with 7% growth to 5.93 million passengers, while Gatwick was third, seeing passenger numbers expand by 5.1% to 3.08 million.

Overall, passenger traffic at BAA's London airports grew by 7.1% to 10.85 million compared with the same month a year earlier.

Friday July 09, 2004