Passenger volume hit at Heathrow due to strike |
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Published
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Sat, 10 Sep 2005 09:05
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LONDON - UK airports operator BAA today announced that the overall traffic at the airports operated by it rose by 0.5 percent over the last year. However, the unprecedented strike due to the dispute involving British Airways, Gate Gourmet and the Transport and General Workers Union hit the numbers at the Heathrow airport, the operator said.
Heathrow had hardly recovered from the twin terrorist attacks on London, when traffic fell by 0.6 percent to under 6.5 million, than the Gate Gourmet issue surfaced. The strike paralyzed activity around Heathrow and left thousands of passengers stranded. The British Airports Authority also announced that Heathrow was the only airport to be hit as far as traffic was concerned. Last month, traffic at Heathrow fell by 3 percent to 6.1 million.
However, six other airports operated by BAA, including Gatwick and Stansted, saw a rise in traffic to bring the total volume of passengers to 14.3 million passengers in August. The operator also said that overall traffic movements fell by 0.7 percent largely due to cancellations at Heathrow, "Among individual airports all except Heathrow recorded increased traffic in August. At Heathrow the large number of BA cancellations over the weekend of August 12, 13, combined with the aftermath of the London attacks in July contributed to a 3 per cent drop in passengers," the BAA said in a statement. Traffic through Southampton increased by 30 percent, while Stansted recorded a 4.2 percent rise in the overall traffic in August. Traffic at Edinburgh rose by 6.6 percent and by 6.9 percent at Aberdeen airport.
Commenting on the Scottish figures, Douglas Dewar, BAA Scotland's finance director said, “Despite the disruption caused by last month's industrial action, and the continued drop in the charter market, BAA Scotland's three airports enjoyed a record month in August. All three airports recorded strong international growth, reflecting their status as Scotland's principal gateway airports."
BAA shares were down 4 pence to 619 pence in early trading.
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