British Airways statement on unite stike - profit outlook unchanged - 18.30 22-Mar-2010
22-Mar-2010 Contingency plans for the three days of industrial disruption have been very successful.
Over the first two days, the airline operated 273 or 78 per cent of its longhaul flights and 442 or 50 per cent of its shorthaul flights. Seat factors were good at 68 per cent in longhaul and 69 per cent in shorthaul. Club World seat factor was just under 60 per cent. In addition the airline operated 70 positioning flights, which in most cases carried cargo, to return passengers home with minimum disruption.
We started the weekend with 82,573 bookings for the two days after our reservation teams had worked with our customers to reduce bookings (including accommodating some passengers for travel in the days leading up to the weekend) to reflect the smaller flying programme. In fact, over the two days we carried 86,262 passengers, due to late additional bookings.
This strong operational performance made possible by dedicated BA staff has significantly reduced the financial impact of the disruption. Current best estimate is that the 3-day industrial action will cost £7 million a day. Assessment of the cost of potential future industrial action can only be made after the event. As a result full year earnings expectations to March 31, 2010 remains broadly unchanged.