BAA lose out as Brits stay at home - Travel Airport News

Airport news for Travel on 07/05/2009.

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British Airports Authority (BAA) has reported this month that their pre-tax losses are over 300 million GBP in the three months leading to the end of March. A considerable loss compared to the same time last year of just 55.6 million GBP.

The losses came from a fall of over ten per cent in passenger numbers and a rise in financing costs of 327 million GBP. Heathrow is the best performing out of the seven UK airports the company owns with a loss of 6.4 per cent in passenger numbers. Glasgow Airport was hit with a crippling 14.1 per cent loss over the same time scale.

BAA put most of the blame on the current economic crisis for their losses with more and more Brits choosing to holiday in the UK at destinations like the Lake District or Cornwall.

"The rest of the year will be difficult and will present more challenges but our focus remains on raising service standards and maximising efficiency," said BAA's chief executive Colin Matthews.

The sale of Gatwick Airport might also add to BAA’s losses later in the year, with reports of offers from three bidders for the airport all falling below the two million pounds they were expecting to get from the sale.

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