Customer Confidence Boosts British Airways World Cargo Results (17/05/2004)

British Airways World Cargo has reported flown revenues of £463 million, for the financial year ended 31st March 2004. During the year, the volume of cargo traffic carried across the airline's international network increased by a healthy 6% to 4,460m Cargo Tonne Kilometres (CTKs) from 4,204m CTKs in 2002/2003. Flown revenue increased by 1.9 per cent compared to the same period last year after taking into consideration the effect of the continued weakness of the US dollar.

As a result of the introduction of the third freighter in August 2003 and the short-haul European freighters in October 2003, capacity increased by 4% during 2003/2004.

This year has been tough for the industry with issues such as the war in Iraq, SARS and the continuing softening of the US Dollar. Despite these challenges, BAWC has succeeded in driving its business forward and continuing to grow.

Commenting on the results, Gareth Kirkwood, Managing Director, said: "This is a positive result for our business. It demonstrates our ongoing commitment to meeting the needs of our customers. Our business partners view us as truly adding value in the supply chain. We are delivering consistently high levels of reliability and have focused on developing capacity solutions to meet the needs of our customers around the world. Our strategic decision to introduce additional freighter capacity in key global markets last year ensured that we are able to respond to the needs of our customers in both high-demand and emerging markets, benefiting the entire logistics chain.

"We are confident that we have the right strategy in place to continue to grow the business despite the continuing challenges facing the industry. British Airways World Cargo has the best team in the business and we're committed to the ongoing development of our services and to delivering for our customers."