British Airways is deeply affected by the massive economic downturn and have seen a massive drop of their business class seat sales over the last month. BA announced that during the month of May their traffic numbers for business class dropped 0.9% with economy class falling close behind at 0.6%.

Oil prices are largely blamed for the huge drop in ticket sales as well as the May mayhem in which BA’s launch in Terminal 5 had a brutal beginning with huge delays and lost luggage.

BA has also said that despite the unfortunate decrease in customers they have seen a increase of passengers for their Heathrow to New York route which has helped eased the bleeding on the pocketbook.

Andrew Fritchie who works as an analyst for Collins Stewart did say the numbers were “disappointing” but BA’s long haul numbers have steadily been improving which is a large part of the income for BA.

Stockholders holding onto shares for BA were happy to see shares rise 5.6% up to 246.75p as the drop in oil prices has improved the bottom line for airlines throughout the world. This was due to the price of oil seeing another large drop to £62 ($124) per barrel.

British Airways economic future looks bright, as they are now able to take on another 7,000 passengers per day since switching from Terminal 4 to Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport.

www.britishairways.com