British Airways said that its first and business-class traffic had fallen by 17.7 per cent last month as the airline’s more lucrative customers cut back on travelling amid the recession. It said that total traffic for April had risen by 0.9 per cent as market conditions continued to be “very challenging”.
In contrast, economy-class traffic rose 5.2 per cent, boosted by Easter falling in April this year, but total load factor, a measure of how full aircraft are, dropped 2.6 per cent to 78.1 per cent. Cargo traffic was down 14.8 per cent.
BA flew nearly 2.8 million passengers in the month, up 1.3 per cent on the 2.7 million it carried in the same period last year. The increase was largely down to more passengers in Britain and Europe, where it carried almost 1.7 million passengers, up 1.4 per cent. The airline also flew more people in the Americas and Africa and the Middle East. There was another sharp fall in Asia, with numbers falling 9.1 per cent in the month to 142,000.
The airline said that its shares had fallen amid concerns about swine flu but had recovered in recent days as fears ease and hopes build that it could be closer to a merger deal with Iberia, the Spanish carrier.
Turbulence forces British Airways to fly lighter at front of the cabin - Times Online
