Passenger numbers are rising

BAA said its airports handled a total of 14.2 million passengers last month, an 8% rise on the same month last year.

The largest increase was seen on long-haul routes, with numbers on flights to North America up 12.3%, and other long-haul destinations up 14.6%.

European routes also grew strongly, helped by the continued expansion of the budget airline sector.

Rebound

Air travel is steadily recovering after a tough few years for the sector.

Passenger numbers dropped sharply following the attacks in the US using hijacked planes on 11 September 2001.

Airlines also suffered from the war in Iraq, the Sars virus and the sluggish recovery in the global economy.

As well as a recovery on long-haul routes, BAA is continuing to benefit from the fierce price battle between low-cost carriers in Europe, which is encouraging more people to fly.

Passenger numbers on European scheduled routes were 10.8% higher in July than a year before, while domestic routes saw a 6.8% increase.

But European charter traffic fared the worst, with numbers down 6.2% compared with a year ago.

Among BAA's airports, growth was fastest at Stansted with numbers up 10.2%.

In Scotland, Glasgow became the first Scottish airport to handle 1 million passengers in a single month.