Customer Focus Drives British Airways World Cargo Improved Annual Results (19/05/2003)

British Airways World Cargo (BAWC) has reported total revenues of £568 million, for the financial year ended March 31 2003. This shows an increase of 2.6%, from £554 million for the full year in 2002, despite the effects of exchange.

During the year, the volume of cargo traffic carried across the airline's international network increased by 4.5% to 4,204m Cargo Tonne Kilometres (CTKs) from 4,026m CTKs in 2001/2002.

British Airways World Cargo confirmed that its financial improvement had been achieved despite an overall capacity reduction of 3.7%. Load factors also improved by four percentage points due to the combined effects of increased volumes and reduced capacity.

In a year described by Managing Director, Gareth Kirkwood, as one of unprecedented change and challenge for the airline industry, the carrier launched a major new product portfolio in July 2002, with products that are clear, simple and easy to use.

The launch critically signalled the carrier's successful re-entry into the loose market. Mr Kirkwood said: "In the past 12 months we completely re-focused our business to meet changing economic conditions and we spent a lot of time listening to our customers to ensure we were able to meet their changing needs.

"Our improved operational performance was also at the core of our healthy financial results. We are now in a stronger position to meet the challenges of the year ahead."

Keith Packer, Senior Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing, said that consistently high operational performance levels at BAWC's London Heathrow hub, Ascentis, had enabled the carrier to introduce its new product portfolio, including Perform Loose.

Mr Packer said: "Our positive results reflect the powerful combination of our global network, new product portfolio and focus on customer service excellence.

British Airways World Cargo Results at March 31 2003

	2002/2003	2001/2002
Revenue	£568 million	£554 million
Total Network Travelled Tonnage (Freight, courier, mail)	4,204 tonnes	4,026 tonnes