BA premium traffic drops 12.1%

Figures show continuing downward trend

British Airways' premium traffic for December has fallen 12.1% compared to the previous year according to the airline's latest figures.

Last month's fall is the latest in a continuing downward trend with business class traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, down 10.8% in November and 9.2% in October.

A spokesman for BA said: "It's just a reflection of how very difficult the trading conditions are for all the airlines right now, with long haul premium traffic continuing the trend of recent months."

But non-premium economy traffic appears to be rallying with a fall of 1.7% in December compared to 4.8% in November and 3.3% in October.

BA said economy traffic has benefited from travel over the Christmas period.

Overall, BA's passenger traffic fell by 3.4% in December year-on-year, resulting in a load factor decrease of 0.2 points to 76.7%. The figure for November was 74.4%.

www.ba.com