BAA seeks state compensation for £28m ash cloud losses

Airport owner BAA has said it plans to seek UK government compensation for losses incurred after dust from an Icelandic volcano shut European airspace for six days

The monthly passenger total at BAA’s Heathrow and Stansted airports dropped by 1.6m, or 22pc, leading to estimated losses of £28m.

“We’ve been through a recession, it’s been a tough time and therefore it’s an unwelcome additional cost,” Colin Matthews, BAA's chief executive, told Bloomberg. “We’ll have to think about all the ways we can to recover some of those costs.”

BAA's pre-tax loss for the first quarter, which came before the ash cloud disruption, narrowed 38pc year-to-year to £195.5m.

Sales for the three months to April increased 5.5pc, led by the retail division, and passenger numbers improved as the UK emerged from the worst recession on record, Mr Matthews said.

European governments will be entitled to pay to €2.5bn in compensation to the travel industry for ash cloud losses, the European Union transport commissioner, Siim Kallas, said on Tuesday.