Southampton Airport has been dealt a £1m blow after losing more than a fifth of its business in last month’s snowstorms.

The number of passengers passing through the airport was down 22 per cent on December 2009 – the biggest fall seen at any of the six UK airports owned by BAA.

The slump was worse than that suffered by airports in Scotland, which was hit by some of the heaviest snowfalls in the UK.

Compared with the same period last year Edinburgh’s passenger numbers were down by 18.4 per cent, Glasgow by 15.3 per cent and Aberdeen 8.3 per cent.

Stansted had 10.9 per cent less and Heathrow saw numbers drop by 9.5 per cent.

Asked about the 22 per cent reduction at Southampton BAA said the figures for smaller airports with fewer passengers were “disproportionately large”.

The first blast of Arctic weather resulted in 1,300 tonnes of snow having to be cleared from the runway.

Debbie Rigney, media and communications executive, added: “We were open every day in December, with some temporary closures while snow and ice was cleared. However, adverse weather at other airports also affected flights.”

Other businesses in the Southampton area were also hit by a slump in trade during the coldest December on record.

Ian Welland, Southampton city centre manager, said: “Retailers and market traders were certainly affected by the severity of the weather but there were some positives leading into Christmas week and the post-Christmas sales.

“Footfall recovered and sales overall rallied slightly against expectation in the city centre.”

Only 92,582 passengers passed through Southampton Airport last month as Arctic conditions resulted in flight delays and cancellations across Europe.

BAA handled almost 11 per cent fewer passengers and says weather-related disruption cost it a total of £24m, including £1m at Southampton.

Criticised The company was heavily criticised for its handling of the snow crisis at Heathrow, where thousands of Christmas getaway passengers had to camp overnight in terminals.

Chief executive Colin Matthews said: “The coldest December on record closed airports around the world but we must carefully examine the snow plan agreed with airlines earlier in the year and strengthen it to protect against such unprecedented weather.”

Overall BAA handled 103.9 million passengers in 2010 – a drop of 2.8 per cent on the previous year.

The company was hit not only by the December snow but also by two British Airways strikes and the Icelandic volcanic ash crisis last spring.

BAA said it saw passenger numbers drop by about 3.6 million whereas in a “normal” year they would have risen by 0.6 per cent.