FORM 6-K
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20549
Report of Foreign Issuer
Furnished Pursuant to Rule 13a - 16 or 15d - 16 of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
For the period ending 5 February 2003
BRITISH AIRWAYS Plc
Waterside HBA3, PO Box 365, Harmondsworth UB7 0GB
CONTENTS
Traffic and Capacity Statistics January 2003 |
5 February 2003 |
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorised.
BRITISH AIRWAYS Plc
Date: |
5 February 2003 |
||
Sarah Billington Manager Shareholder Services |
TRAFFIC AND CAPACITY STATISTICS - January 2003
Summary of the headline figures
In January 2003, overall load factor improved by 0.9 points to 63.4 per cent. Passenger capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres, was 2.8 per cent below January 2002 and traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, was lower by 1.8 per cent. This resulted in a passenger load factor improvement of 0.6 points versus last year, to 69.2 per cent. The fall in traffic comprised a 7.6 per cent reduction in premium traffic and a 0.8 per cent decrease in non-premium traffic. Cargo, measured in Cargo Tonne Kilometres, increased by 0.5 per cent.
Market conditions
The economic and political environment continues to be challenging.
Strategic Developments
British Airways announced its shorthaul summer 2003 schedule which includes new routes from London Gatwick and Manchester airports and increased services on profitable routes to Europe.
At Gatwick, a new service will start to Krakow in Poland three times a week and services to Athens will be reinstated with six flights a week. There will be extra daily flights to Italian destinations including Rome, Genoa, Venice and Verona and an extra weekly service to Naples. An additional weekly flight will operate to Pristina in Kosovo.
At Heathrow, there will be an additional daily service to Brussels and Copenhagen, three extra weekly flights to Helsinki and two extra weekly flights to Larnaca in Cyprus. Services to Belgrade will move from Gatwick to Heathrow where there will be four flights each week. At Manchester, there will be three new services with daily flights to Bologna, Pisa and Vienna and extra daily frequencies to Geneva, Glasgow, Hanover and Rome and an additional weekly service to Lyon. Services to Gothenburg will be suspended.
The airline began wearer trials of a new uniform for customer contact staff.
British Airways submitted its detailed response to the CAA as part of the consultation process on airport charges. It said an increase in airport charges of 6.5 per cent above inflation at Heathrow from April 2003 - 2008 means airlines are being asked to pay £300m in advance for airport services which they and their passengers wont benefit from for many years. The submission also said the increase in charges was based on an unreasonably high cost of capital at 7.75 per cent compared with BAAs historic cost of capital of below 7 per cent. Other UK utility regulators use a cost of capital of 6-6.5 per cent. Financial analysts cost of capital estimates are in the range of 6-7 per cent.
ends
February 5, 2003 008/CW/03
BRITISH AIRWAYS MONTHLY TRAFFIC AND CAPACITY STATISTICS |
||||||||
Month of January | Financial year to date |
|||||||
April through January |
||||||||
Change |
Change |
|||||||
SCHEDULED SERVICES | 2003 |
2002 |
(%) |
2002/3 |
2001/2 |
(%) |
||
Passengers carried (000) | ||||||||
UK/Europe | 1848 |
1794 |
+3.0 |
22597 |
23271 |
-2.9 |
||
Americas | 521 |
504 |
+3.3 |
5658 |
5613 |
+0.8 |
||
Asia Pacific | 128 |
159 |
-19.7 |
1318 |
1478 |
-10.8 |
||
Africa and Middle East | 247 |
236 |
+4.6 |
2147 |
2322 |
-7.5 |
||
Total | 2743 |
2693 |
+1.9 |
31720 |
32684 |
-2.9 |
||
Revenue passenger km (m) | ||||||||
UK/Europe | 1415 |
1376 |
+2.8 |
17761 |
18704 |
-5.0 |
||
Americas | 3552 |
3495 |
+1.6 |
38155 |
38374 |
-0.6 |
||
Asia Pacific | 1331 |
1656 |
-19.6 |
13473 |
14896 |
-9.6 |
||
Africa and Middle East | 1695 |
1615 |
+5.0 |
14512 |
15715 |
-7.7 |
||
Total | 7993 |
8142 |
-1.8 |
83901 |
87689 |
-4.3 |
||
Available seat km (m) | ||||||||
UK/Europe | 2550 |
2575 |
-1.0 |
26361 |
29824 |
-11.6 |
||
Americas | 5091 |
4997 |
+1.9 |
51846 |
53340 |
-2.8 |
||
Asia Pacific | 1725 |
2149 |
-19.7 |
17353 |
20485 |
-15.3 |
||
Africa and Middle East | 2180 |
2153 |
+1.2 |
20515 |
22317 |
-8.1 |
||
Total | 11545 |
11875 |
-2.8 |
116076 |
125966 |
-7.9 |
||
Passenger load factor (%) | ||||||||
UK/Europe | 55.5 |
53.4 |
+2.1 |
pts | 67.4 |
62.7 |
+4.7 |
pts |
Americas | 69.8 |
69.9 |
-0.1 |
pts | 73.6 |
71.9 |
+1.7 |
pts |
Asia Pacific | 77.2 |
77.1 |
+0.1 |
pts | 77.6 |
72.7 |
+4.9 |
pts |
Africa and Middle East | 77.8 |
75.0 |
+2.8 |
pts | 70.7 |
70.4 |
+0.3 |
pts |
Total | 69.2 |
68.6 |
+0.6 |
pts | 72.3 |
69.6 |
+2.7 |
pts |
Revenue tonne km (RTK) (m) | ||||||||
Cargo tonne km (CTK) | 310 |
308 |
+0.5 |
3528 |
3334 |
+5.8 |
||
Total RTK | 1120 |
1133 |
-1.2 |
11922 |
12114 |
-1.6 |
||
Available tonne km (m) | 1766 |
1813 |
-2.6 |
17832 |
19129 |
-6.8 |
||
Overall load factor (%) | 63.4 |
62.5 |
+0.9 |
pts | 66.9 |
63.3 |
+3.6 |
pts |
Certain information included in this statement is forward-looking and involves risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward looking statements.
Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, projections relating to results of operations and financial conditions and the Company's plans and objectives for future operations, including, without limitation, discussions of the Companys Future Size and Shape programme, expected future revenues, financing plans and expected expenditures and divestments. All forward-looking statements in this report are based upon information known to the Company on the date of this report. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
It is not reasonably possible to itemise all of the many factors and specific events that could cause the Companys forward looking statements to be incorrect or that could otherwise have a material adverse effect on the future operations or results of an airline operating in the global economy. Information on some factors which could result in material difference to the results is available in the Companys SEC filings, including, without limitation the Companys Report on Form 20-F for the year ended March 2002.
Investor Relations
Waterside (HCB3)
PO Box 365
Harmondsworth
UB7 OGB
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8738 6947
Fax: +44( 0) 20 8738 9602