BAA saw passenger numbers recover through its airports in September after falls in the previous two months.
Almost 9.2 million passengers used BAA’s five airports in the month, the same as September 2011 and an improvement on the falls of 4.1% in July and 2% in August.
Heathrow saw 6.3 million passengers pass through its terminals, a record for the month and up 0.6% on the same time last year.
European scheduled traffic was up 0.2%. Within that passenger numbers to and from Spain were up 6.2%, but Greece and Portugal both saw traffic fall 4.8%.
North Atlantic traffic continued to perform well, up 4.5% on last September. Brazil and China passenger numbers increased 14% and 5.9% respectively but traffic to and from India fell 7%.
Stansted passenger numbers were down 4% and Southampton saw a 4.4% decline.
Traffic through Aberdeen and Glasgow was up 1.4% and 5.6% respectively, resulting in a total increase at the Scottish airports of 4.4% .
BAA chief executive Colin Matthews called on the government’s aviation review – the Davies Commission – to “rigorously and objectively assess every option to meet our country’s economic needs”.
Reflecting on last month’s figures, he said: “Heathrow saw record passenger numbers in September.
“Traffic to and from the BRIC economies, other than India, demonstrates the on-going importance of hub capacity to connect the UK to growth markets.”