Airline reports rise in economy passengers
British Airways reported a 7.9% drop in premium traffic for September compared with the same month in 2008.
The fall is much less than previous months where it has fallen from between 11% in July to 20.2% in February.
But the airlines said that comparisons were starting to be against a weaker base with the bankruptcy of Leman Brothers taking place on September 15, 2008.
The UK national carrier said its capacity was down 3.7% compared to last year and passenger figures down 0.8%.
This led to an increase of 2.4% increase in load factor compared with September 2008 to 81.3%.
Besides the drop in premium traffic, BA reported that economy travel was up slightly by 0.7%.
The airline said that market conditions in September were unchanged with"yields under pressure from the year on year impact of lower fuel surcharges, exchange movements and the mix" of business.
It said that during the month it had launched its long haul all business class service from London City Airport to New York JFK in a 32-seater A318.
BA said that it during the month more than 50% of its flights departed on time and it was its best September ever p for punctuality with 87% of flights departing early or on time.
www.ba.com