British Airways passenger traffic for May dropped 0.7%, resulting in a 1.5 percentage point decline in its load factor - a measure of how full its flights were on average. The airline said that longhaul premium traffic was slightly ahead of last year, but longhaul non-premium traffic and shorthaul premium markets remains weak.
Traffic for May declined 0.7% to 9.24 billion Revenue Passenger Kilometres or RPKs from 9.30 billion RPKs in May 2007. Premium traffic was down 0.9% and non premium traffic down 0.6%. Capacity rose 1.3% to 12.87 billion Available Seat Kilometres or ASKs from 12.70 billion ASKs in the prior year month.
BA's passenger load factor fell 1.5 points to 71.8% from 73.3% last year. Cargo, measured in Cargo Tonne Kilometres, rose 2.7% to 416 million from 405 million last year. Total revenue tonne kilometers were 1.33 billion, down 0.7% from 1.34 billion in the prior year month. Overall, BA's load factor improved 1.5 percentage points to 70.6% from 69.1%.
The airline carried 2.82 million passengers in May. This compares to over 5m carried by budget airline Ryanair.
A BA spokesman warned that economic pressures on passengers may soon have a significant impact on demand for flights. He said long-haul economy travel was already weak and that it remained to be seen how regular flyers would cope with having less disposable income, adding that short-haul weekend breaks were particularly vulnerable to a downturn. |
