 Passengers at Heathrow |
The cost of guarding against terrorism has meant a slip in profits at airport operator BAA. For the three months to 30 June, the firm reported pre-tax profits of �127m - down from �143m for the same period last year.
BAA said the cost of employing an extra 1,000 security guards in the wake of the 11 September US terror attacks had dented profits.
It added that the Sars outbreak, war in Iraq and new accounting standards for pensions had also affected profits in the three month period.
Prospects improving
BAA, which operates seven UK airports - including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted - insisted its medium term prospects were improving.
Passenger growth and revenues had started to improve towards the end of the period, with passenger numbers using its UK airports growing by 2.2% to 32.7 million during the three months.
A decline of 2.2% at Heathrow was offset by strong growth at Stansted, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Southampton.
Chief Executive Mike Clasper said: "This has been a challenging quarter for BAA and the whole aviation industry, but the outlook is more favourable.
"We are now almost at the end of the huge investment in security-related recruitment and expenditure, which followed the tragedy of September 11, and we are on course to meet our targets for the year."
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