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In June, air passenger traffic at major UK airports fell to its lowest level in nine months, according to figures released by airports operator BAA.

The figures show 12.7 million passengers passing through the operator’s airports during the month, which was 5.9 per cent lower than in June of 2008.

In May, the decline was 7.3 per cent, and the operator indicated that June showed the best underlying figures since September 2008.

A 2.3 per cent drop in passenger numbers was reported in April, but when the impact of a later Easter is factored out, the decrease was a larger 6.8 per cent.

At Heathrow the decline was relatively modest, at 3.1 per cent, at least partly due to the large number of passengers transferring to other flights at that airport.

Stansted, the base of operations for budget carriers such as easyJet and Ryanair, was the heaviest hit, with traffic down by 11.5 per cent. For the six months of 2009, passenger numbers fell by 14.4 per cent, as compared with the same six months in 2008, as carrier capacity cuts.

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