The turbulence that caused the collapse of UK carrier XL Airways has also led to European charter airline traffic dipping 12.6% last month at the seven BAA airports.
Passenger numbers at the airports - which include Heathrow and Gatwick - totalled 113.4 million for the first nine months of this year, 1.4% down on last year.
BAA handled 13.3 million passengers at its seven UK airports in September 2008 - 5% fewer than in September 2007.
North Atlantic routes saw passenger numbers fall by 6.8%, with other long-haul traffic dipping 6%. The smallest drop was for European scheduled airline traffic which was down only 2.2%.
With more airlines now able to fly to the US from Heathrow after the EU-American "open skies" agreement, north Atlantic traffic at the west London airport rose 9.6% last month compared with September 2007.
Despite this, overall Heathrow passenger numbers dipped 3.6%, while Gatwick fell 6.8% and Stansted was down 4.7%.
Southampton airport numbers fell by 4%, Glasgow by 11%, Edinburgh by 2.9% and Aberdeen by 4.2%.
Copyright © PA Business 2008
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