Summary of the headline figures
Capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres, fell by 5.0 per cent in January. Traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, rose by 2.6 per cent comprising 5.5 per cent growth in premium traffic and 2.1 per cent growth in non-premium traffic. Passenger load factor of 65.7 per cent was 4.8 points better than January 2000. Cargo, measured in Revenue Tonne Kilometres, decreased by 5.0 per cent.

Market conditions
Trading conditions continue to be satisfactory with lower industry growth levels. British Airways’ 9 per cent capacity cut for the year 2001/02 will leave the business less volume dependant and better able to respond to and withstand any slowdown in economic growth which may occur.

Costs
The price of fuel has fallen, and while this year’s reported fuel costs are still expected to be some £270 million higher than last year, we now expect fuel costs for 2001/02 to be less than £100 million higher than the year ending March 2001.

Strategic developments
British Airways began modifying its Concordes, with the expectation of resuming services later this year. More than £30m will be spent on the aircraft, with £17 million spent on safety-related modifications and £14 million, announced in January 2000, spent on upgrading the onboard product.

British Airways announced cuts in many of its UK-sold fares, effective from April 1. The adjustments to fares reflects the changes in payments to UK travel agents, following the introduction of the new agents’ remuneration scheme.

British Airways announced the launch of its new Value Pass, which enables passengers to buy full fare domestic and Club Europe e-tickets in bulk and obtain a 10-18 per cent discount in return for payment in advance.

British Airways has introduced a facility which allows its frequent flyers to use their WAP phones to check-in and select their seats for flights out of the UK. The service is now available to all Gold and Silver Card Executive Club members, and will be available to Blue Card holders in the summer.

British Airways unveiled a new system to improve the way the airline keeps track of baggage and reunites passengers with misplaced luggage. The Journey Baggage Service uses information from computer systems around the world to pinpoint the whereabouts of baggage, and this will be the single source of information from which Customer Service staff can trace missing baggage.

British Airways and its alliance partner Iberia announced the expansion of their code-sharing agreement to cover four destinations in Spain served by Iberia subsidiary Air Nostrum. From February 1, the BA code will be added to Air Nostrum/Iberia flights between their Madrid hub and the regional cities of Almeria, Murcia, Pamplona and Zaragoza.

British Airways announced that it is to operate the first scheduled service from the UK to the Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean. A weekly service, flying on Sundays from Gatwick, will begin on June 3 and will be operated with a Boeing 767 in a three-class configuration.

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