British Airways Delays Delivery of A380s

British Airways has confirmed that in addition to grounding its three remaining mainline Boeing 757s in summer 2010 and a further three Boeing 747-400s in winter 2010, it has also pushed back the delivery schedule for its first six Airbus A380s.

The delivery dates of BA's first A380s has been extended by an average of five months with the first delivery currently due in 2012.

The schedule for the remaining six A380s has been extended by an average of two years with the final aircraft arriving in 2016.

In June 2009, BA's passenger capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres, was 1.7% below June 2008 while traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, fell by 3.8%. This resulted in a passenger load factor decrease of 1.8 points versus last year, to 79.6%. Traffic comprised a 14.9% decrease in premium traffic and a 1.3% fall in non-premium traffic.

Cargo, measured in Cargo Tonne Kilometres, fell by 9.8%.

British Airways' capacity for the current summer period (April to October) is now expected to be down 3.5% (previously 2.5%), with capacity in the winter down 5% (previously 4%).

This winter, British Airways will launch extra flights from Gatwick to Bermuda, Barbados, St Lucia and Port of Spain. Gibraltar, Malaga and Pisa flights will move from Gatwick to Heathrow and flights from Gatwick to Alicante, Barcelona, Krakow, Madrid, Malta and Palma will be suspended.

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