Airline sees slight drop in passenger figures
BA today (July 3) reported a 14.9% drop in premium traffic for June compared with the same month in 2008.
While the slump in passengers travelling business or first class is continuing, the rate of the fall is slowing.
April showed a 17.7% decline and May a 17.2% drop. In February the fall was 20.2%.
The UK carrier said overall passenger numbers for June were 3.8% below the figure for 2008.
During the month, non-premium traffic dropped by 1.3% while the load factor fell by 1.8% to 79.6%.
The airline said market conditions continued to be "very challenging with trading levels well below last year."
But it added: "However on an underlying basis both premium and non-premium volumes and seat factors have now been stable for more than three months."
The biggest fall in passenger numbers was 15% to the Asia Pacific region, followed by a 4.3% fall in domestic/Europe travellers. The American market remained relatively stable with a drop of 1.2%.
It said that in response to market conditions, it had cut capacity for the summer by 3.5% and planned to cut winter capacity by 5%.
It had planned to retire three 757 aircraft next summer with three 747s due to be taken out of service in winter 2010.
BA said the arrival of some new aircraft had also been put back by between five months and two years.
It said it had cut its forecast capital spending from £725m to £580m for 2009-10 and it was likely to stay at that level throughout 2010-11
Jobs were also being cut with 2,500 lost in 2008-2009 and a further 3,700 in the current year.
www.ba.com [1]