BAA profits rise 17pc on Heathrow growth The owner of London Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of £1.13bn for 2011, on revenues 10pc higher at £2.28bn. BAA, which is owned by Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial, said passenger traffic across its airports rose 3.7pc to 87.4m. Heathrow handled a record 69.4m passengers during the year - up 5.5pc - compared with the previous record of 67.9m set in 2007. "Growth (at Heathrow) was particularly strong with countries such as the United States, Germany, Switzerland, France and Brazil," BAA said in a statement. Of Heathrow's major markets, European traffic showed the most significant year on year growth, increasing 7.6pc to 28.5m passengers. In recent years BAA has reported a steady rise in traffic to emerging markets in Asia but believes it is now falling behind rival European airports in the battle for these lucrative routes because of the constraints on growth at Britain's largest airport. BAA said Heathrow also used a record 99.2pc of its maximum permitted annual arrivals and departures in 2011. The airport operator said it had raised around £3bn of new financing in the last 12 months, and that it would start paying dividends to its shareholders in 2012, the first time since it was acquired by the Ferrovial-led consortium in 2006.