BA premium traffic still falling in March
British Airways has posted March traffic and capacity figures that continue to show sharp falls in premium traffic.
Figures for last month reveal traffic fell 7.3%, while capacity was increased by 0.9%. This resulted in a passenger load factor decrease of 6.4 points to 72.7%.
Premium traffic fell 13%, while non-premium business declined 6%. Cargo traffic also dropped 10%.
BA says the March figures are affected by the Easter holiday's falling in April this year rather than a month earlier in 2008. The effect was to increase premium and reduce non-premium volumes.
February's significant snowfall, which restricted operations for several days is also expected to impact BA by £20 million, while additional severance costs to the end of March could have an impact of £35 million.
BA is also predicting a full-year revenue hit of between £20-25 million due to volume and yield weakness, especially in US traffic.
The carrier is sticking to its previous estimate that it will post a full-year operating loss of £150 million ($201 million) before severance costs of £75 million.
