European Airlines' Traffic Rises But Gloom Remains

British Airways, Ryanair and easyJet all posted passenger growth for April, but warned that Easter had provided a short term boost and the industry remained in the quagmire.

BA flew 0.9 percent more passengers in April than the same month last year despite a 17.7 percent slump in business travel, but admitted it was selling tickets at lower prices to fill its planes.

The company said its load factor rose 2.6 percentage points to 78.1 percent.

"We're sacrificing yield (prices) in order to keep volume," BA head of investor relations George Stinnes told reporters, adding that the airline had launched a 2-for-1 offer on business class tickets.

Low-cost carrier easyJet said earlier on Wednesday that April traffic rose 6.3 percent. Easter fell in March last year, inflating the April year-on-year figures.

EasyJet said bookings for the summer were about the same as last year, encouraging analysts, but remained cautious on the economy. A spokesman for founder and biggest shareholder Stelios Haji-Ioannou said he still takes the view that easyJet ordered too many planes for current market conditions and should continue to postpone deliveries.

Ryanair posted a 12 percent jump in April passengers while its load factor increased to 82 percent.

"The low cost airlines continue to produce materially better numbers than full carriers. They are holding up while business-to-business traffic like premium or cargo travel is down," said Stephen Furlong, airlines analyst at Davy stockbrokers in Dublin.