Passenger numbers using Southampton International Airport continue to grow with the latest figures showing that 80,800 people used the terminal last month.

This is an increase of 1.7 per cent on the same period last year and brings the passenger total from June 2000 to June 2001 to 872,000.

Routes particularly busy in June were Manchester, which grew by 10.2 per cent, Newcastle, which increased by 35.7 per cent, and Paris, which saw a 29 per cent boost.

Nationally, BAA's seven UK airports handled a total of 11.8 million passengers in June, an increase of 3.4 per cent on 2000, indicating an upturn after four months of minimal growth, as the impact of foot-and-mouth began to tail off.

The improvements support BAA's forecasts of a gradual return to normal growth by the autumn.