Airports operator BAA has pegged back forecasts for passenger growth, despite a three per cent rise in visits to its seven UK sites during 2005.

Yesterday BAA forecast passengers at its airports, which include Heathrow and Gatwick, would grow by 2.5 per cent in the year to March 31, rather than the three per cent it predicted in November.

The guidance, which equates to a reduction of about 700,000 passengers, came as BAA announced passenger volumes in the 2005 calendar year were up three per cent on 2004 to 144.34 million.

In December, the figure was slightly below trend, up two per cent at 10.7 million passengers. A BAA spokesman said a range of factors affected its forecast, including general economic prospects and higher oil prices.

In November, BAA said the July bombings had weakened demand for flights. The Gate Gourmet dispute and hurricanes are also likely to have played a part.

Southampton airport showed BAA's biggest improvement across 2005, dealing with 1.84 million passengers - a 19.9 per cent rise on last year - as it attracted more low-cost services.

Heathrow saw passenger numbers rise by 0.9 per cent to 67.7 million, while Gatwick rose by 4.2 per cent to 32.7 million and Stansted by 2.5 per cent to 22 million.

Aberdeen recorded an 8.4 per cent growth in numbers to 2.87 million in 2005, with Edinburgh up 5.6 per cent at 8.4 million and Glasgow ahead by 2.5 per cent at 8.78 million. Traffic on Irish routes, helped by low cost services such as Ryanair, rose 7.7 per cent in 2005 and by 7.5 per cent in December.

UK domestic traffic slipped 0.5 per cent last month but was up two per cent across 2005. Passengers on North Atlantic flights rose 1.2 per cent in 2005 but dropped 1.7 per cent last month, while European schedule and long haul volumes rose by 4.2 per cent and 8.2 per cent respectively last year.

European charter volume, which was down 8.7 per cent over 2005, slumped 16.4 per cent last month against December 2004, mainly because more airlines diversified into scheduled flying to compete against low cost carriers.

Thursday, January 12, 2006