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.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
