Passenger numbers are recovering

The company said passenger numbers during June were up 2.9% against the same month a year ago.

Fierce competition between budget airlines and established carriers offering lower fares meant numbers on scheduled European flights were up 10.1%.

And the start of low-fare flights from Southampton helped the airport to see a near 70% rise in air travellers.

Longer distance travel was not as strong reflecting the impact of the war and Sars virus.

Passenger numbers across the North Atlantic were 1.6% lower.

And other long-haul routes saw numbers drop 3.2%, although BAA said they had started to see an improvement following the lifting of Sars-related travel restrictions.

Among individual airports, Stansted enjoyed a 13.1% increase in traffic, Edinburgh was up 11.8%, Glasgow saw 3.1% more travellers and Heathrow numbers were 0.9% higher.