The number of passengers using BAA's six airports slumped 22.7% last month after huge disruption to UK and European flights caused by the volcanic ash cloud, figures from the Heathrow owner has revealed.
BAA handled a total of 6.9 million passengers in the month, with almost all of the decline on last year's figure due to the ash crisis.
The company, which is owned by Spain's Ferrovial, revealed at the end of last month that the closure of Heathrow and Stansted had cost it £28 million. Airports across Europe faced fresh disruption this weekend.
The problems in April meant the number of passengers at Heathrow fell by 20.8% in the month to 4.4 million, while Stansted dropped 24.4% to 1.2 million. The company's three Scottish airports were badly affected with a fall of 28.2%, while Southampton declined 19.4%.
In total, BAA estimated that it dealt with 1.9 million fewer passengers as a direct result of the ash cloud.
Both Heathrow and Stansted were closed from April 15 to April 20 because of the volcano, with normal airline schedules not resuming until April 22.
The period before the disruption was already challenging because of enhanced security procedures, heavy winter snowfall and ongoing strike woes at British Airways - BAA's biggest customer.
