British airports operator BAA has reported a rise in passenger numbers for July.
The company said there was a surge in domestic traffic but warned that recovery in other markets remains slow with North Atlantic traffic showing a similar trend to last month, down 9.1 per cent and other long haul routes down by 5.1 per cent.
Its latest figures show BAA's seven British airports handled 12.9 million passengers in July, an increase of 0.4 per cent over the same month last year.
The company says there was a gradual improvement in traffic growth over the month, driven by the start of the holiday period.
The fastest-growing market was domestic, up 10 per cent, which the company says was helped by low fares at Gatwick, Stansted and the main Scottish airports.
Irish traffic rose 6.6 per cent with low fares also fuelling the market.
European charter traffic rose 2.3 per cent and European scheduled routes grew 0.6 per cent.
PA