The disturbance and disruption which was caused by Britain's big freeze has ended up costing airport operator BAA 150,000 travelers during December.

BAA, which is the owner of 6 major UK airports including Heathrow and Stansted, has bitterly blamed the unusually cold weather and falling apart of the Scottish airline FlyGlobespan for a decline in passenger numbers last month. 2009 had anyways been a tough year for the group, with the recession pulling back the while airline sector.

"Passengers at airports across Europe and North America were affected by cancellations and disruption arising from fog and snow. It is estimated that weather conditions accounted for the loss of 150,000 passengers at BAA's airports", BAA said.

The number of travelers who were taking internal flights within the country declined by 6.5%, with passengers numbers flying to North America falling by 5.7%. There was, however, a rise in passengers taking flights to continental Europe.

Colin Matthews, Chief Executive of BAA, has said that 2009 was a harsh year for all airlines. The group is owned by the Spanish empire, Ferrovial.