Growing volumes underline bright future for British Airways (18/02/2005)

British Airways World Cargo's strong growth has continued and this is reflected in the carrier's quarterly figures announced today. In the third quarter from 1 October to 31 December 2004, better utilisation of capacity has enabled BA World Cargo to achieve sharp increases in volumes exceeding its growth in capacity.

The quarter has seen a 1.7 pc increase in capacity, but an increase in carried volumes of 8.1 pc in comparison to the same quarter last year. As a consequence, the overall load factor is up by 3.9 points. This strong performance has been achieved by working more closely with customers and identifying areas for growth.

Flown revenues for the third quarter are £134.4m, which compared to last year represents a 12.5 pc increase excluding the impact of exchange rates or 6.3 pc including the exchange rate movements. Yields for the quarter are down 1.6 pc but when the effect of the exchange rate is removed, yields have grown by 4 pc across the network.

Steve Gunning, head of finance, said: "This is a strong performance for us that has been achieved despite the highly competitive market conditions. We have also been boosted by an upturn in overall yield, which gives us a good platform to continue growth in the final quarter of the year. While unprecedented fuel prices have hampered the industry, we have performed strongly to capitalise on our additional capacity and increase our volumes and our yield."

Gareth Kirkwood, managing director, said: "These figures represent another step forward for us in our efforts to grow the business. It's particularly pleasing that we are continuing to improve utilisation of our capacity which reflects the high volumes that we have seen on the network throughout the year. The team is completely focused on maintaining this in the final quarter and I am optimistic that we can finish the year strongly."

The recent announcements that British Airways plans to offer additional capacity will directly benefit BA World Cargo's customers. New services will include Chennai, Bangalore and Shanghai, which remains subject to approval from the Chinese authorities. Kirkwood added: New passenger services bring advantages to our whole business. We are currently evaluating the specific improvements that our customers will gain from these changes and look forward to extending the flexibility and range of our network " this underlines our ability to meet customer demand and deliver the very best service."