British Airways estimates the severe weather in December will cost the airline £50 million.
image courtesy of Alan Huse
It said an initial assessment indicates that the weather disruption, which saw Heathrow, Gatwick and other key European airports close, will also have a small impact in January due to cancelled return journeys.
Releasing its traffic figures for the month, BA said it suffered an 8.3% fall in traffic in December because of the bad weather.
The airline saw passenger capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres, down 7.7% on December 2009.
This meant passenger load factor fell 0.4 points from 76.8% in 2009 to 76.4%.
Premium traffic was down 1.6% while non-premium traffic fell 9.6%.
The airport closures equated to a reduction in capacity versus December 2009 of around 12%.
But BA said underlying market conditions remain positive.
The airline also announced some changes to its board.
Non-executive director Gavin Patterson, currently chief executive BT Retail, will be joining the Board from February 1.
Two executive directors will join the Board at the time of the merger with Iberia – Andrew Crawley, currently sales and marketing director, who will become director, commercial and Frank van der Post, who joins the company as managing director brands and customer experience.
By Bev Fearis
