...compared to last year's figures.
Weakness in C-class customers .....
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSL0649633020080506

Might be their T5 hassles drove the passengers away? I hope they could do better and PR of this company is not good at the moment.

Actually, their premium pax numbers went up around 3% while their World Traveller / Economy customers count decline 8.8%.

Easter was in March this year…  

Sorry, had to say it, but it's pretty funny that all these airlines are comparing YOY April and having declines, and even if it isn't the reason, one major difference between the two years is that Easter was in March.  

Also certain to be in part due to an early Easter period in March this year. Will have skewed the figures to some extent - although I agree that the T5 debacle probably plays most of the blame here. May will give a more accurate picture of how BA is performing.

Quoting Ikramerica (Reply 3): Easter was in March this year… Sorry, had to say it, but it's pretty funny that all these airlines are comparing YOY April and having declines, and even if it isn't the reason, one major difference between the two years is that Easter was in March.

To be fair, I've just looked at BA's press release for April figures and they immediately mention the Easter period and its effect on YOY comparisons. Reuters just neglected to put that in their report......

As mentioned in the article, the terminal 5 debacle has hit home, although there are only passenger numbers quoted in the article. Will be interesting to see what additional costs have been incurred over this period, before you take into account oil price rises ( the extra fuel supplement didn't kick in until May).
Still, there's a lot of airlines out there that would be very happy with a 71.6% load factor.

Quoting Cornish (Reply 5): To be fair, I've just looked at BA's press release for April figures and they immediately mention the Easter period and its effect on YOY comparisons. Reuters just neglected to put that in their report......

Ah, then I'm not crazy. Well, not because of this. People try to dismiss the March Easter thing in other threads when April numbers have dropped for "some strange reason" but I don't think it can be ignored.

One plus? Next year, all these airlines will be able to crow about strong growth YOY in April!  

Quoting Ikramerica (Reply 7): Ah, then I'm not crazy. Well, not because of this. People try to dismiss the March Easter thing in other threads when April numbers have dropped for "some strange reason" but I don't think it can be ignored. One plus? Next year, all these airlines will be able to crow about strong growth YOY in April!

Well I know it well, having in the past had to analyse at around 200 airlines monthly traffic results and come up with some sort of industry performance. Easter shifting between March and April always has an effect, no matter what others say on here - especially in Europe as it is prime family holiday time.

Having said that, for the UK at least, Easter was so early this year that many of the schools kept their 2 week holiday break back until April, so a March Easter may not have had quite the effect over here on traffic as it might sometimes have had. But certainly Easter weekend is one of the busiest of the year, so it would bound to have had a negative effect to some extent on BA.

But almost certainly the T5 debacle played a part, along with a strong Euro against the Pound making cheap Euro breaks less likely for us.

Here is the passage from the BA press release from which the Reuters' comments were derived:


"In April 2008, passenger capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres, was 0.4 per cent below April 2007. Traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, fell by 7.0 per cent. This resulted in a passenger load factor decrease of 5.1 points versus last year, to 71.6 per cent. Traffic comprised a 3.4 per cent increase in premium traffic and an 8.8 per cent fall in non-premium traffic.

"Comparisons across both March and April 2007 and 2008 are complicated by the timing of Easter, which fell in April in 2007, and by the de-linking of UK school holidays from the Easter period and into the middle of April. This has altered both premium and non-premium travel patterns across the two months.

"Cargo, measured in Cargo Tonne Kilometres, rose by 5.3 per cent.

"Market conditions

"Market conditions are broadly unchanged with longhaul non-premium traffic showing significant weakness. 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.

"Operations in Terminal 5 continue to show improvement. A normal schedule has operated for more than three weeks and more than 1.4 million passengers have travelled through the terminal. Focus remains on ensuring the stability of the baggage system so that performance levels can be sustained. Operations in Terminals 1 and 4 are working well."



The increase in premium class traffic is clearly influenced by some of the same factors as the fall in economy class traffic. The calendar effect (Easter) on Y Class Easter vacation passengers (who travelled in April last year, March this year) is the opposite to that on J Class business passengers (who stayed with their families over Easter in April last year, March this year). But a growth in premium class traffic of 3.4 per cent in April in the face of the T5 debacle may suggest that some may be over estimating the T5 debacle impact on BA business.

April transatlantic load factors were a mixed bag this year, when comparing the US carriers as well as with BA, with some extremes:

Airline April 2008 April 2007 Change

AA 80.1% 80.6% Down 0.5 pts
DL 80.2% 80.9% Down 0.7 pts
US 77.4% 79.1% Down 1.7 pts

UA 79.0% 84.2% Down 5.2 pts
BA ?? ?? Down 6.3 pts
CO 75.3% 81.7% Down 6.4 pts
NW 79.4% 87.2% Down 7.8 pts

Had any flights been cancelled following the loss of G-YMMM?

Quoting Gkirk (Reply 11): Had any flights been cancelled following the loss of G-YMMM?

BA seem to cancel the BA173/2 (LHR-JFK-LHR) on a regular basis. Which is the only 777 flight currently to JFK.

The flight has just been removed from BA's timetable (ops twice a week), however, it was timetabled to be daily. It returns to daily operation on 27 May, I belive, thats after G-VIIY is returned to the fleet with NGCW.


Cheers

Quoting BAW217 (Reply 12):

Answer's the question as to why it was cancelled yesterday.

Most Uk carriers will have the same kind of problem BA had when trying to look at the loads from the same time last year due to easter falling at a different time.

T5 of course has not helped.

I would have thought the early Easter and the late school holiday would have been a good thing creating a second opportunity for people to travel. The early Easter concept is probably a convenient scapegoat. We all need them sometimes