According to Airport operator BAA, there was a 0.3% increase in British passenger numbers in August. Following the plot to blow up airliners last month, BAA spent an additional 13 million pounds to introduce tighter security.

Despite the rise, BAA still said that the number of passengers for August was below that expected, standing at 14.3 million rather than 15 million.

On 10th August British police said that a plot to blow up flights between Britain and the U.S. had been foiled. Following the foiling of the plot, BAA's immediate reaction was to tighten security and to cancel flights. The result was huge disruption at British airports.

However BAA has said that of its 116,000 flights, less than 2% were canceled. BAA runs Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead airports and claims that 14.3 million passengers used its airports in the month.

On 15th August BAA was delisted in London following a successful bid for the company of 10.1 billion pounds by Spanish construction and services conglomerate Ferrovial, according to Reuters News.

United kingdom Security