Scottish airports 'hardest hit by ash cloud chaos'

11/05/2010

Scottish airports were among the hardest hit by the impact of the volcanic ash plume, with passenger numbers down nearly a quarter in April, new figures show.

According to airport operator BAA, the number of travellers using its airports at Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh fell by a total of more than 28 per cent.

The figures revealed that Glasgow airport was worst affected, with passenger numbers down by 29.2 per cent compared with the same month last year.

Across BAA's six UK airports, the overall volume of passengers reached 6.9 million - a fall of 22.7 per cent on April 2009.

The company, which owns Heathrow, Stansted, Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports, recently released its fiscal results for the first quarter of 2010.

Figures showed that the one-off impact of the volcanic ash disruption is expected to cost BAA a total of £28 million over the course of the year.

The ash plume that erupted from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland caused the cancellation of hundreds of flights across Europe earlier this month, leaving many holidaymakers stranded.

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