British Midland International’s (Bmi) traffic fell 6.6% between January and June 2011, compared to the first half of 2010.
For the period, the number of passengers contracted from 3,457,000 to 2,753,000.
Bmi’s load factor stayed consistent in the first half of 2011, however, at 74.2%, a 0.2% increase on 2010.
Unrest in the Middle East has caused difficulties for the Lufthansa-owned airline, with its newly launched route between London and Tripoli dropped within one day of its launch.
The airline has also been forced to reduce the number of flights between London and the Syrian capital of Damascus.
The Lufthansa Group’s other airlines revealed stronger passenger numbers, with a 10% rise overall, but impoverished load factors.
Lufthansa saw a rise in passenger numbers of 14.8%, Swiss 10.6% and Austrian Airlines 1.9%, while at Germanwings the figure fell 2%.
In terms of load factor, a measure of how full the airlines’ planes are flying, Lufthansa fell 2.1 percentage points, Swiss 0.9 points and Austrian 3.4 points. Germanwings improved its load factor by 0.2 points.