BA 3rd quarter revenue down 4.7%

BA 3rd quarter revenue down 4.7%    British Airways World Cargo is reporting a 12 percent increase in revenue, adjusted for exchange rate fluctuations, through the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, despite a 4.7 percent drop in the most recent quarter.
   BA World Cargo earned '536.6 million in air freight rates and fuel surcharges for the nine months beginning April 2008. Volume, however, decreased during that period by 1.6 percent, to 3.6 million cargo ton kilometers (CTK). Cargo capacity for the same period decreased 3.6 percent. Overall yield (commercial revenue per CTK) increased 14 percent versus last year, factoring in the impact of exchange rate movements.
   “A marked and growing deterioration in market conditions began during the third quarter of the financial year (October to December 2008),” the airline said. “Commercial revenue for the quarter stood at '173.8 million ($257.1 million), a decrease of 4.7 percent after the effects of exchange rate movements are removed. Volumes in the quarter were down 8.4 percent versus the previous year, and overall yield for the third quarter increased by 4 percent.”
   “The weakness of sterling and higher fuel surcharges compared to the previous year mask the underlying deterioration in trading conditions in quarter three,” said Sean Doyle, financial controller of BA World Cargo. “The 8.4 percent decline in volume reflects the reality that there was no visible pre-Christmas peak and the downward trend in price as a result of excess capacity continues to be a feature in all of our key markets.”
   BA released no information regarding profits.