The British Airport Authority (BAA) has posted an improvement in profits after passengers returned to air travel over Christmas.
The airports operator is reporting that revenues grew 4 per cent to £1.5 billion in the nine months of its financial year, with operating profits rising 6 per cent to £495 million.
BAA is also announcing a change in management - with deputy chief executive Mr Mike Clasper set to take the top job in June. He will take over from Mr Mike Hodgkinson, who became chief executive in 1999 after 11 years on the board.
Mr Hodgkinson said: "We have seen traffic recovery continue on domestic and European scheduled routes throughout the period and in December all markets showed increases. Traffic was particularly strong over the Christmas period".
BAA said passenger traffic numbers rose almost 5 per cent in the nine-month period, breaking the 100 million barrier at 100.4 million.
That resulted in a 2 per cent increase in revenues from airport charges, rising to £514 million, and helped push the amount BAA receives from retail operations to £400 million - up almost 8 per cent.
The company operates seven British airports including Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted and Glasgow.