bmibaby outperforms parent

bmi group managed to report a total monthly passenger growth of 11% for December – entirely due to the growth of its low cost offshoot bmibaby. Some 741,483 passengers were carried in the month, with the yearly total reaching 9.4million – up 20% on 2002. bmibaby saw its passenger numbers in December 2003 increase by around 50% to 198,000, mainly due to the addition of new routes. Meanwhile full service airline bmi carried 544,000 passengers in December 2003 which a spokesman claimed was “marginally up” on the same month a year ago. During the year bmi carried 6.7million passengers, which the spokesman said was also “marginally up” on the year before. Austin Reid, bmi chief executive officer, said: “December provided a strong end to 2003, despite intense competition in the marketplace. We have seen a modest increase in load factors, unlike some parts of the industry, which are experiencing a slight downturn. “2003 has been a year of consistent growth, resulting in the group carrying more passengers over the course of the year than ever before. This has been achieved in a year that has again proved challenging to the industry with the conflict in Iraq and the SARS epidemic. It is an encouraging achievement but with the highly competitive nature of the market and yields under pressure, our focus remains on controlling costs and maximising efficiencies within the business.” Earlier this month British Airways reported that in December its premium traffic had increased by 4.7% and non premium traffic had increased by 4.8% compared to the same month a year ago.