UK. BAA is gearing up to welcome a record two million passengers during the Christmas period between 22 December and 28 December.
The group predicts that Tuesday 28 December will be the busiest day, with nearly 190,000 passengers travelling through Londow Heathrow Airport, 100,000 through London Gatwick Airport and 60,000 through London Stansted Airport. The passenger peaks are good news in commercial terms for BAA and its World Duty Free subsidiary which runs 64 stores across the country.
Gatwick passengers will largely head for short-haul destinations such as Tenerife, Geneva and Malaga this Christmas, while Heathrow passengers are likely to head for New York (attracted by the favourable currency rates), Dublin and Paris. Stansted travellers tend to fly to Dublin, Rome and Prestwick in Scotland.
A number of preparations are being made by BAA to deal with the burgeoning traffic. A new self-service check in system will be provided for Heathrow terminal three passengers travelling with JAL, Air Canada and Gulf Air, free of charge and regardless of ticket type. It is on trial until March 2005 when a permanent and larger scale deployment will become operational. The self service check-in aims to reduce congestion and passenger waiting times can be used across multiple airlines.
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