UK. British Airways (BA) yesterday announced a -10.1% fall year-on-year in passenger numbers (domestic and international) for February to 2,169,000.
The decline reflects the deeply troubled economic climate in the UK though BA also noted that February was one day shorter this year (2008 was a leap year). Traffic was also negatively affected by a number of cancellations in the first week of the month due to heavy snowfall in the southeast of England. Reports today said that premium traffic was worst affected, with business and first class traffic down by -20.2% in February,
BA said: “Market conditions remain challenging but broadly in line with previous expectations.”
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Source: British Airways |
By sector, Asia Pacific took the biggest hit, seeing a fall of -19.3% year-on-year to 113,000 passengers. The UK and Europe was off by -12.0% to 1,280,000; while the Americas was also soft at -7.3% (see chart).
BA said it had launched a premium leisure sale offering long and short haul fare reductions on 26 February. Long haul destinations include New York from only £1,099, Bermuda, Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Closer to home, Club Europe (short haul business class) return flights start from £159 to Turin, £169 to Amsterdam and £199 to Paris. The sale, which runs until 24 March is for travel between 1 April and 13 December 2009.
Today the airline announced that its outlook for 2009/10 is for revenue to be down by -5% with fuel costs down -10%. The business is targeting a £220 million reduction in underlying non-fuel costs with a further £80 million reduction during 2010/11. Its overall guidance for 2008/09 is broadly unchanged from previous guidance, with revenue now expected to be up by +3.5%, fuel costs up £950 million and non-fuel costs up +7%.
Capacity for summer 2009 is forecast to be -2% below 2008, the company said.
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