|
|  | 08
May 08 | British
Airways traffic falls after Terminal 5 fiasco |
BA passenger numbers has fallen
7% in April compared with the same time last year after the
terrible performance of opening Terminal 5 at Heathrow.
The average proportion of seats sold by BA fell
by over 5 percent to 71.6%.
The airline released the figures as chief executive Willie Walsh
prepared to face a grilling from the House of Commons transport
committee this afternoon.
British Airways figures for traffic, which is measured in
revenue passenger kilometers, fell by 8.8% in non premium
classes, but increased by 3.4% in premium.
It said comparisons between March and April 2007 and 2008 were
complicated by the timing of Easter, which fell in April in 2007
but March this year, which altered premium
and non-premium travel patterns across the two months.
However market conditions were “broadly unchanged” with
“significant weakness” in long-haul traffic.
“In April some impact was felt, particularly on transfer
traffic, from the move to Terminal 5 and the operational
problems in the early part of the month,” said the airline.
It insisted operations at Terminal 5 continued to show
improvement and a normal schedule had operated for more than
three weeks, with more than 1.4 million passengers travelling
through the terminal.
|
