Contingency plans for the second period of industrial action have again been very successful

Over the first two days (March 27 and 28) the airline operated 308 or 83 per cent of its longhaul programme (273 or 78 per cent last weekend) and 623 or 67 per cent of its shorthaul programme (442 or 50 per cent last weekend). Total number of passenger flights increased 30 per cent from 715 to 931. Seat factors continued to be strong at 75 per cent in longhaul and 64 per cent in shorthaul. In addition the airline operated 61 positioning flights to carry cargo and return passengers home with minimum disruption, nine less than last weekend. Wet lease aircraft decreased from 22 to 11 (costing approximately £495,000 for the last two days) as we operated a larger number of our own aircraft. We operated 100 per cent of our normal schedule at Gatwick.

Over this busy Easter holiday air travel weekend, we flew 118,575 passengers, an increase of 37 per cent over the 86,262 carried last weekend.

This strong and improved operational performance made possible by dedicated BA staff has further reduced the impact of the disruption. The estimate is a daily impact of £5.5 million for each day this weekend. Any change to the cost impact for the remaining two days of industrial action will be announced later in the week if required. Earnings expectations for the year ended March 31, 2010 continue broadly unchanged.