SARS fears hit far east flights

Worries about the SARS crisis caused a huge dip in the number of people flying on British Airways’ Far East flights last month, it emerged today.

BA’s Asia Pacific traffic fell 33.1% in May 2003 compared with May 2002, while its planes to and from Asia Pacific last month were 14.7% less full than in the same month last year.

And although, overall, the airline carried fractionally more passengers last month than in May 2002, BA warned that there was “considerable volatility in booking levels”.

On all routes, BA carried 3,155,000 passengers in May 2003 – a rise of 0.3% on the May 2002 total. Planes last month were 69.4% full compared with a figure of 66.9% in May 2002.

While the number of passengers on UK and European flights fell slightly by 0.4% last month, passenger numbers on flights to and from the Americas rose 7.5%, and Africa and Middle East traffic increased 10.1%.

BA said the rise in passenger numbers was mainly driven by post-Iraqi war pent-up demand and promotional campaigns.