'Tough winter' for air industry

Domestic flights were particularly badly affected

The aviation industry is facing a tough winter as passenger numbers continue to fall, Scotland's main airport operator has warned.

BAA Scotland said 1.9 million passengers travelled through Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports last month.

The figure represents a drop of 6.1% on the same period last year.

A spokesman for BAA said the credit crunch was impacting on the number of people taking flights.

Domestic routes have been particularly badly hit, the spokesman added.

"There is no doubt the aviation industry is feeling the pinch as the credit crunch continues to impact on consumer demand, and this winter will be a tough period for airlines and airports around the UK," he said.

"The challenge is to weather the downturn. We are confident the market will recover and in the meantime we continue to work with our airlines to make the most of the 120 destinations available from our three Scottish airports."

Domestic traffic

Edinburgh was the busiest airport in October with 794,009 passengers, down 3.2% on the previous year.

International traffic grew slightly by 0.9% while domestic traffic fell 6%.

At Glasgow, overall traffic fell 9.1% to 787,226 with international passenger numbers down by 7.1% and domestic traffic dipping by 11.4%.

Aberdeen handled 302,243 passengers, down 5.3% on last year.

Domestic traffic fell by 5.9% and international traffic was down 3.7%.

An increasing number of passengers chose to fly with low-cost carriers - 50,000 more than the same period last year.

Over the past 12 months the three airports handled more than 20 million passengers, down 2.4% on the previous year.