THE UK's major airports continued their recovery last month as people chose to fly away for Christmas and New Year.

Despite the impact of the September 11 atrocities, airports operator BAA said 8.2 million passengers passed through its seven airports in the UK in December.

This was just 6.4 per cent down on December 2000, continuing the gradual recovery seen at the UK's major airports since the terrorist attacks in the United States.

And BAA said the strongest recovery in the month came on North Atlantic and other long haul routes, those most affected by the fall-out from the tragedy.

North Atlantic traffic was down 13 per cent in December compared with the same month the year before, a marked improvement on a 26.1 per cent year-on-year fall in November.

Other long haul routes registered a six per cent drop last month.

BAA said the figures represented "continued progress" on the figures seen in October and November and were as a result of "very strong" Christmas traffic.

"In the seven days ending December 31, passenger numbers were similar to last year," the group said.

The figures will add to cautious optimism about the airline sector, coming a week after improved figures from British Airways and Dutch carrier KLM.

Last Friday, BA said it had seen a "measurable improvement" in its market conditions in December after introducing a range of special offers.

KLM added its figures for last month were an improvement on November.

Yesterday, BAA said European charter traffic last month was virtually unchanged on December 2000 while European scheduled traffic dipped by 6.3 per cent.

Among BAA's airports, Stansted recorded growth of 6.3 per cent last month confirming its position as the fastest growing airport in the group.