Security and bad weather hit BA in July

Security alerts and extreme weather contrived to hit British Airways carryings last month.

Traffic was down by almost three per cent year-on-year despite a 1.1% reduction in capacity.

Economy carryings were down by 2.9% and premium traffic down by 2.6%. The overall passenger load factor dropped 1.5 points to 81.2%.

“A number of flights were cancelled as a result of external events including the terrorist attack at Glasgow airport on June 30, the security closure of Terminal 4 on July 3 and the extreme weather and flooding that occurred on July 20,” BA said.

And the airline warned: “As the Heathrow terminals continue to operate above capacity this will affect our ability to recover quickly from any unexpected events. Combined with the continued weakness of the US dollar our revenue guidance is reduced by 1% to around 4% to reflect these risks.”

Fuel costs are now expected to be up £120 million on last year, £20 million worse than the previous guidance, BA added.

“Our revised cost guidance year on year is flat, excluding fuel, reflecting both expected exchange benefits from the weaker dollar and strong performance in the first quarter,” a statement said.

The airline saw its pre-tax profit rise to £289 million for the three months ending June, up from £191 million the same period a year ago.

Chief executive Willie Walsh said the rise was as a result of efforts to control costs and came despite “operational difficulties” at Heathrow.

“Reveue is flat before exchange and reflects the continued impact of security ad baggage restrictions on short haul and premium transfer traffic, which Heathrow has been struggling to cope with,” he said.

“We appreciate how frustrating this has been for our customers and I am pleased the Government has also recognised this and set up a working group to see how quickly the restrictions on hand baggage can be eased.

“In order for the Government to remove the restrictions, the BAA must recuit additional personnel and invest in the right equipment so we can get back to offering good customer service.

“In the meantime we have taken all available steps to minimise inconvenience to our customers and have increased manpower levels in the terminals at Heathrow to an all time high.”

BAA formerly hands over Terminal 5 at Heathrow to BA next month in preparation for operational use from next spring.

Be believes the new terminal’s passenger facilities will be “better than any other hub in Europe”.

Every aspect of the terminal will begin to be tested from September with staff and consumers, according to the airline. 

by Phil Davies