BAA, the airports operator, has cut its losses for the first nine months of year after seeing an increase in the number of passengers using its terminals.

The Spanish-owned company reported a pre-tax loss of £147 million against a £193m loss in 2010, when results were hit by the volcanic ash cloud and a strike by cabin crew at British Airways.

“Revenues rose 7.1% in the third-quarter and were up 8% at Heathrow where traffic rose 1.5% during the period, despite tough comparisons from a strong summer in 2010,” Jose Leo, BAA’s chief financial officer said. “Our expectation for 2011 was to grow earnings by 15% and we expect to do that.”

BAA, majority owned by Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial, has reported a steady rise in traffic to emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil, and said steady growth in US traffic had also helped.

BAA, which owns Heathrow in London – Europe’s busiest airport – as well as Southampton and Stansted in England and Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports in Scotland, said it expected the company to perform well in the coming year, despite economic uncertainty that analysts believe could have a big impact on passenger numbers.

BAA also confirmed it had requested a judicial review of a Competition Commission ruling that it must sell Stansted Airport.

Earlier this month, BAA announced the sale of Edinburgh Airport, due to be completed by summer 2012. City analysts value the airport at around £600m.