A scorched-earth policy adopted by budget carriers, including easyJet and Ryanair, is hurting Stansted, according to falling passenger figures published by BAA, the airport company.

The group, which is owned by Ferrovial, of Spain, today revealed a double-digit drop in passenger numbers at Stansted and Gatwick, while Heathrow suffered a modest decline of 2 per cent.

The fall in the pound has taken a heavy toll on European charter traffic, a big business for Gatwick and a potential challenge for a buyer of the airport.

Passenger numbers on charter flights from BAA airports to European destinations fell by 22 per cent last month, as Britons reckoned that the allure of ski slopes was not enough to justify the expense.

Overall, traffic at Stansted and Gatwick fell 13 per cent in December, and over the past year the Essex airport's performance was grim, with a fall of 6 per cent in passengers numbers compared with only 1 per cent at Heathrow and 2.8 per cent at Gatwick.

Only Glasgow airport suffered a worse annual decline, with 6.8 per cent fewer passengers passing through the terminal.

The evidence of heavy passenger attrition comes at a difficult time for BAA which has been ordered to sell both Gatwick and Stansted by the Competition Commission.

BAA blamed the severe Stansted contraction on the cuts in capacity adopted by Ryanair and easyJet, both of which are big customers of Stansted.

Gatwick's losses include the decision by US carriers, including Delta and Continental, to move their flights from Gatwick to Heathrow to take advantage of the Open Skies agreement between Britain and the United States.

The agreement ended the oligopoly on Heathrow-US flights enjoyed by BA, Virgin, American and United Airlines.

A BAA spokesman said that the company did not expect the poor traffic figures to affect any sale of the airports.

He said: "We have had traffic reductions in the past. Anybody buying an airport looks at the long-term market opportunity."

However, he said that Heathrow's relatively strong performance provided further argument for the need to build a third runway.

In the face of vocal protest from local residents and environmental groups, the Government this week deferred its decision on whether to support BAA's application to build another runway at Heathrow.

Heathrow's bias towards long-haul traffic to America and Asia has helped the airport in the recent downturn.

According to the BAA statistics, European and domestic routes have been worst affected by the attrition in passenger numbers.

Traffic to UK and Irish destinations declined by almost 9 per cent in December while European traffic fell by 6.5 per cent.

North Atlantic flights were also hit, down 6.7 per cent, but other long-haul routes, which includes the Asian destinations, fell by only 2.8 per cent last month.

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