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International Traffic Lifts Scots Airport Passenger Numbers

Posted on: Friday, 10 February 2006, 09:00 CST

By Martin Flanagan City Editor

SCOTLAND'S three busiest airports took wing at the start of 2006, new figures revealed yesterday, as shares in their owner, BAA, continued to rise on speculation it will receive a takeover bid from Grupo Ferrovial of Spain.

BAA revealed that Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports handled almost 1.3 million passengers in January.

An increase in international traffic, up 14.6 per cent over the year, saw overall passenger numbers in January jump by 5.8 per cent on the previous year at the three airports.

At Aberdeen, international passenger numbers were up almost 30 per cent on the same period last year.

Edinburgh was Scotland's busiest airport in January, with 552,708 passengers, a rise of 3.6 per cent on the previous year. Edinburgh's international passenger numbers were up by 14.5 per cent.

Passenger numbers at Glasgow grew by 4.3 per cent in January to 525,653, and Glasgow's international traffic was up 11.2 per cent on the previous year.

BAA Scotland's managing director, Stephen Baxter, said: "With passenger numbers rising month-on-month, it is clear that growing numbers of Scots, together with increasing numbers of international visitors, are choosing to bypass the more congested airports in the south-east of England and fly direct to and from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen."

The buoyant Scottish figures came as a source close to BAA stressed the case for continuing independence, despite Ferrovial's interest.

"It is hard to see what anyone can do that they [BAA] haven't considered or cannot do themselves," the source said.

The source said further hurdles to a takeover by Ferrovial included BAA's GBP 5 billion in debts and possible opposition from bondholders.

BAA's shares closed up nearly 15 per cent on Wednesday after Ferrovial had confirmed it was considering a bid, and yesterday the stock climbed a further 3.6 per cent or 27p to 779.5p.

BAA has said that it was considering the effect of a potential cash bid on the sterling and euro bonds it priced last week and would update investors as soon as possible.

Source: Scotsman, The

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