BAA passenger numbers hit by snow

Airport group BAA has said bad weather hit passenger numbers by 130,000 last month as it battled against the “worst snow for decades”.

Passenger numbers were up 1% to 7.9 million year-on-year in November, but would have been up 2.7% if not for severe weather including snow, fog and strong winds.

Traffic at Heathrow was up 4.3% in a fifth monthly record in a row, with the airport well prepared to deal with adverse weather.

But passenger numbers declined at all BAA’s other five UK airports – Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

The east of Scotland was badly hit by snow, as Edinburgh lost 50,000 passengers, bringing numbers down by 3.9% and Aberdeen lost 15,000 passengers, bringing its total down 1.9%.

Traffic at Glasgow was down 0.8%, but would have been level with last year if not for the severe weather.