Heathrow airport has busiest month ever

Europe's busiest airport serviced 6.4 million passengers in August

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updated 4:02 p.m. ET Sept. 10, 2009

LONDON - Heathrow airport had its busiest August ever as leisure travel made up for falling business trade, airport operator BAA Ltd. said Thursday.

Total traffic for the group, however, dropped by 3.1 percent in August.

Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, handled 6.4 million passengers during the month, up 0.3 percent compared with a year ago, BAA said.

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Traffic at London Gatwick fell 4.6 percent while London Stansted dropped 7.8 percent, the company said.

Edinburgh posted a 4.8 percent increase, the fifth consecutive monthly gain; Glasgow traffic dropped by 13.4 percent, Aberdeen fell 9.8 percent and Southampton in England was down 3.7 percent.

Cargo tonnage handled by the group's airport fell by 7.5 percent compared with a year earlier, the first time since November that the decrease had been less than 10 percent.

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