Spotlight on Heathrow: How the UK's biggest airport is coping with the recession

It is not surprising that the travel industry has been seen to be suffering from the ongoing recession. Since sterling fell mightily in comparison to the euro and the US dollar in December last year, it has done little to gain any ground in the lead up to the summer urging many UK travellers to consider staying home this holiday season. After expansion and monopolization controversy, how is the UK's No. 1 airport coping in the wake of the credit crunch?

As is expected, recent BAA statistics published at abtn.co.uk have shown a general fall in passenger volume through May. Overall airport traffic for the UK fell by 7.3 percent last month whilst the BAA-owned Gatwick airport saw a drop of 6.5 percent. By comparison, one of the worst hit airports during the recession has been London Stansted which has fallen by 18.5 percent - more than twice the national average. The statistics are also interesting In terms of traffic specific to certain areas of the globe; whilst US BAA traffic has fallen by 9.1 percent, it is numbers of European travellers that have fallen the most - 20.5 percent fewer travellers year-on-year

Comparatively, reports have shown that Heathrow is surviving the recession fairly well. Although the volume of passengers didn't increase in May (Edinburgh was the only UK airport that did), in light of current trends the figures have proven better than the UK average. In May, traffic at Heathrow declined by 3.9 percent which is just 2.9 percent less than a year before - and the smallest change of all BAA-owned airports aside from Edinburgh.

However, the decline in May shouldn't be seen to suggest that the summer will see further falls in traffic. April's figures (reported at BAA.com) showed figures rise by 2.6 percent - further support for "demonstrating the resilience and importance of Britain's international hub airport," said BAA.

Such resilience is good news for the airport and for BAA. In light of expansion plans to build a new runway and to build on other facilities such as additional Heathrow airport parking - if the airport continues to show strength in the face of recession whilst others are forced to cut back, the development of Heathrow will no longer be considered desirable, but essential for the welfare of the UK economy.

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