British Airway Suffers Decline In April Traffic

British Airways has reported a decline in traffic during the month of April. The chaotic opening of Terminal 5 at Heathrow combined with difficult market conditions resulted in a 7% decrease in passenger numbers from April 2007.

Other factors, such as the occurrence of Easter in April last year but in March this year, complicate the comparisons slightly but BA has conceded that T5 problems have affected traffic. However, BA has reported a 3.4% year on year increase in the number of business class passengers.

Despite the airline having completed more than 3 weeks of normal service at Terminal 5, chief executive Willie Walsh has admitted that he knew opening Heathrow Terminal 5 on schedule was a risk and that he regretted not delaying it.

Walsh added that BA staff were not as familiar “as they should have been” with the terminal when it opened in March.  The carrier will not complete the switch of long-haul services to T5 until October 2008.