Shares hit by dip in load factor
The carrier said it flew 4.72 million people in April, an increase on the 4.11m flown in April 2007. Over the 12 months to the end of April 2008 it carried 51.58m. But its shares slipped 18 cent to €2.98 as it said that flights were less full in April compared with a year ago, and it also suffered from the continued rise in the price of oil. The airline’s load factor, or the amount of seats per flights are filled, declined to 79% from 83% a year earlier.
Meanwhile, British Airways’ passenger numbers dipped last month as the airline dealt with the shambolic opening of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 (T5). BA, run by former Aer Lingus chief executive Willie Walsh, carried 2.59m passengers in April 2008, a 7.9% fall on the April 2007 total.
The biggest dip was in Britain and European traffic, which fell 8.5% in April 2008. BA said T5 had had “some impact” on the April figures “particularly on transfer traffic”, and because of “the operational problems in the early part of the month”.
BA also reported that its planes flew 71.6% full last month — a dip of 5.1% on April 2007.
The airline said comparisons with April 2007 were complicated in that Easter was very early this year — with Easter Sunday on March 23 — and that school holidays had been staggered this year.
BA and its passengers endured a nightmare start to T5 flight operations on March 27, with dozens of flights cancelled, baggage systems failing and long queues building at the £4.3 billion (€5,46bn) facility.
Additional reporting by Press Association
