UK airports group BAA says a marked recovery in the air travel industry saw London's Heathrow enjoy its busiest September on record.
More than 6.2 million passengers flew from Heathrow last month, a record for the month and a 7.6% increase from a year earlier.
BAA said much of the rise was driven by a bounce back in business travel as the global recovery picks up pace, with airlines also re-starting routes and schedules axed at the height of the recession.
The news follows recent encouraging passenger traffic reports from airlines, with British Airways last week revealing a 4.3% rise in passenger traffic last month - its first increase since February.
BAA said traffic across all of its six UK airports - Heathrow, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen - rose 3.3% year-on-year to 9.99 million last month.
A spokesman for the group said there was some evidence that travellers sought to take trips last month that had been cancelled earlier in the year due to the volcanic ash cloud crisis.
Heathrow's record performance also signals a pick-up in the long-haul market, with the recovering international economy seeing sharp increases in those flying to destinations such as China and Brazil.
