EasyJet a heavy burden for BA
BRITISH AIRWAYS, the new darling of London investors, kept its nose ahead of upstart rival easyJet in UK and European passenger volumes over Christmas - but only just.
BA has already suffered the ignominy of being overtaken by discount carrier Ryanair in the European market. And traffic figures out today from easyJet indicate BA is likely to be overtaken soon by a second UK-based airline.
EasyJet, which incorporates Go, the successful low-fares airline set up then sold off by BA, said it carried 1.67m passengers in December, a year-on-year rise of 16%. BA carried 1.7m that month, a fall of 2.3% and yesterday, Ryanair said it carried 2.01m.
On load factors, a key indicator showing how full aircraft are flying, easyJet had 80% to Ryanair's 85%. BA's domestic and European services flew 61% full.
Shares in easyJet, led by chief executive Ray Webster, today opened at a 13-month high 327p, buoyed by the recent surge in investor support for airlines witnessed by the near-20% rise to 269 3/4p in BA's share price since the turn of the year. Earlier this week, BA reported a return in longhaul first class and business class passengers.
European aerospace giant Eads has said its aircraft building subsidiary Airbus expects to deliver around 300 new jets in 2004. That should see it keep ahead of Boeing after the US group admitted yesterday that Airbus had overtaken it in production volumes for the first time.
