British Airways has blamed a fall in its premium traffic during May on an earlier half-term school holiday in the UK.
The carrier, which is part of IAG, said that traffic in its premium cabins was down by 2.9 per cent last month compared to May 2012.
“Traffic and load factor were affected by an earlier UK half term and an additional bank holiday compared to last year,” said IAG in a statement on the month’s traffic figures.
Despite the dip in premium demand, overall group traffic for IAG rose by 7.4 per cent during May while capacity rose by 6.3 per cent, although these figures were boosted by the inclusion of Spanish airline Vueling which has just been purchased by the group.
British Airways’ passenger traffic rose by 2.7 per cent during May despite a 0.7 per cent cut in overall capacity across its network. Sister airline Iberia reported a 16.3 per cent fall in traffic as capacity was slashed by 13.2 per cent.
Meanwhile Easyjet saw passenger numbers rise by 3.4 per cent to 5.6 million during May – the no-frills airline has carried 60 million people during the last 12 months, up by 5.6 per cent year-on-year.
Rival Ryanair increased passengers by 5 per cent in May to 7.86 million while its annual figures jumped up by 4 per cent to 79.8 million.
ba.com