Royal Wedding Brings More Airline Passengers to the United Kingdom

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Getty / Fergus McDonald

It should come as no surprise — last month’s royal wedding led to a surge in passengers at major UK airports.

(PHOTOS: The World Watches the Royal Wedding)

Airport operator BAA handled 9.34 million people at its six UK airports in May 2011, reports The Guardian. This is a 9.2% increase on the May 2010 figure, which was affected by the first Icelandic ash-cloud crisis and industrial action.

Heathrow handled more than 5.8 million passengers – 11.6% more than in May 2010. Edinburgh airport saw passenger numbers rise 13.7% to almost 826,000. Stansted handled 0.7% more passengers last month, Aberdeen airport numbers increased 11.8% in May 2011, while Glasgow was up 7.0%.

BAA said the late Easter and the royal wedding at the end of April had led to an increase in passengers at the beginning of May this year, while the second Iceland ash-cloud problem had had only a marginal effect.

Maybe the United Kingdom should hope for another royal wedding in the near future. Paging Prince Harry!

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