British Airways´ Profits Soar on Strong Demand

British Airways has shown a 27 percent rise in annual profit. Europe´s third largest carrier also raised its forecasts for the year, with higher ticket prices and demand for flights offsetting soaring fuel costs.

The airline´s short-haul business is profitable for the first time in a decade as it tackles competition from low-cost carriers by cutting ticket prices.

Some of the good numbers on the board are pre-tax profits of £620 million, operating profits of £705 million, net costs up 2.9 percent, unit costs up 0.5 percent and net debt at £1.6 billion.

“These are good results with revenue performance driven by improvements in seat factors and yield,” said Willie Walsh, British Airways´ CEO.

Group turnover for the year was £8,515 million, up 9.6 percent on a flying program 2.4 percent bigger in available ton kilometers (ATK). For the quarter, group turnover was up 13.2 per cent at £2,122 million on a flying program 2.2 percent higher in ATK.

Revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) were up 3.7 percent for the year and up by 2.8 percent for the quarter. Seat factor was up 0.8 points for the year at a record 75.6 percent and up 0.1 points in the quarter to 73.1 percent. Yields, excluding fuel surcharges, were up 1.3 percent for the year and up 3.7 percent for the quarter.

Net costs for the year were up by 2.9 percent and unit costs worsened by 0.5 percent. In the quarter, net costs and unit costs were up 4.1 percent and 1.8 percent respectively.

For the year, cargo volumes measured in cargo ton kilometers were down 0.4 percent compared with last year, with yields up 3.8 percent. For the quarter, cargo volumes were up 2.1 percent compared with last year, with overall load factor up 0.3 points at 68.5 percent and yields were up, excluding fuel surcharges at 8.3 percent.