BA April traffic hit by volcanic ash disruption

Passenger traffic at BAA airports fell 22.7 % in April year-on-year after a volcanic ash cloud swept over Europe, leading to a 6 day shutdown of airspace which left millions of passengers stranded.

The company, which is majority owned by Spain's Ferrovial, on Monday said 6.9 million passengers flew from its UK airports last month compared to 9 million in April 2009.

The spread of ash from an erupting volcano in Iceland grounded much of European air traffic for nearly a week over fears of the effect on jet engines of the ash.

BAA, which owns London's Heathrow and Stansted airports but sold Gatwick for 1.5 billion pounds last year, said 4.4 million passengers flew from Heathrow in April - 20.8 % fewer than the same month a year ago.

European carriers carried, on average, around a quarter fewer passengers last month due to the ash disruption.

At BAA's other London airport, Stansted, passenger numbers dropped 24.4 % at Stansted.

Air freight, a leading indicator of the health of world trade, rose 6.2 % at BAA's UK airports, despite the disruption, with the figure for 2010 well up on last year.