BA loses out to Eurostar
British Airways admitted yesterday it was losing ground to Eurostar on routes to European cities.
Chief executive Willie Walsh said demand for premium class air travel to Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels had weakened and added: “I think we have seen a shift away from flying on shorter routes, largely because of restrictions on hand baggage and the difficult airport environment.”
Despite a recent relaxation of baggage rules and the expected opening in March of Terminal 5 at Heathrow, he conceded that some of the passengers lost to the high-speed rail link might never return.
The weakness on short-haul traffic was offset by strong growth on premium long-haul routes, helping BA report nine-month profits up 35 per cent at £788million.
Walsh said demand was growing on routes to Asia, Latin America and Africa. But BA had experienced its biggest quarterly rise in fuel costs,
16 per cent, in the last three months of 2007. The shares fell 14p to 318p.
lBA is to launch a business-only service from London City airport to New York using Airbus A318s.