Drop less severe than in previous months
Iberia reported that traffic on March fell by 7.3% compared with the same month in 2008.
But the Spanish national carrier said the fall was less severe than those in both January and February.
The airline said it had shed 3.6% capacity in March compared with 2008 while its load factor fell 3.1%, compared to 2008, to 78.7%.
Iberia, which is in merger talks with BA, said traffic on its long haul routes dropped by 4% and its load factor went down by 4% to 83.8%.
On international medium haul routes, traffic fell by 9.1% while the load factor dropped by 2.8% to 71.9%.
In Europe, short haul, traffic fell by 9.9%, capacity was cut by 6.3% and the load factor fell by 2.9% to 72%.
The airline said domestically, traffic was down 17.1% while the load factor dropped by 2.6% to 69.1%.
Traffic was particularly hit on the Madrid-Barcelona route where a new high speed train service is now operating.
The airline said demand continued to be "very weak" because of the recession and said it had also been affected by the different date this year for Easter, April compared with March in2008.
www.iberia.es