BA to miss 2008 revenue targets

BA has been hit by a fall in premium passengers

British Airways says it will miss its full-year financial targets, after a big fall in demand for premium travel.

It confirmed it expects to make an operating loss of £150m for 2008/9 - up to £25m more than it first thought - plus a further £75m in severance costs.

It comes as BA said it carried 2.61 million passengers in March 2009, down 8.2% on the year before.

BA said: "Market conditions remain challenging, with both volume and yield under pressure."

BA planes travelled at an average capacity of 72.7% in March, against 79.1% in March 2008.

Premium traffic - those travelling in first and business class seats - dipped 13% during the month, while economy passenger numbers were down 6%.

The biggest fall in route traffic by region was in Asia Pacific - down nearly 12% - while Africa and the Middle East routes held passenger numbers best, and were down by only 0.7%.

BA also repeated that the February snow had severely restricted its operations for several days. Disruption caused by the snow falls is likely to have cost it about £20m, BA said. .