Passenger traffic at BAA airports rose slightly last month compared to July 2010, helped by growth at London's Heathrow and its Scottish airports, according to Reuters. The company, majority owned by Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial , on Thursday said 11.03 million passengers flew from its UK airports last month, up 0.8 percent on the same month last year. It said London's Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, served 6.9 million passengers, up 2.5 percent. "The growth in passenger traffic at Heathrow in July is good news for UK jobs, tourism and growth," BAA's Chief Executive Colin Matthews said. Matthews said a 5.3 percent increase in North Atlantic traffic helped compensate for a reduction in domestic travel at Heathrow. BAA, which owns Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports in Scotland, as well as Heathrow, Southampton and Stansted in England, said its Scottish airports recorded a 2.9 percent increase against the same month last year. Traffic at London's Stansted airport, however, which is heavily exposed to short-haul economy travel, was down 7.2 percent on last year. BAA has, in recent months, reported a steady rise in long-haul business traffic, especially to emerging markets such as China and India, and said growth in U.S. traffic had also helped.
