London - The number of passengers travelling through Britain's main airports fell by 2.8 per cent in 2008 compared with the previous year, figures released by operator BAA showed Wednesday.

The seven airports run by the BAA company, which include London airports Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, handled 145.8 million passengers in 2008.

At 66.9 million, the number of passengers using Heathrow Airport last year was down 1.4 per cent, while Gatwick dipped 2.8 per cent and Stansted passenger numbers fell by 6 per cent. (dpa)