BA March Passengers Down, Revenue Hit

British Airways said it would miss its full-year revenue targets as passenger numbers fell sharply in March, with the fall in demand steepest in the UK carrier's high-earning premium travel segment.

Passenger volumes dropped by 7.3 percent and the demand downturn would impact year to March revenue by up to GBP25 million pounds (USD$36.7 million), cutting expected growth to less than 3.5 percent, BA said on Friday.

The carrier, whose previous revenue forecast was for 3.5 percent growth, said the volume decline included a 13 percent drop in premium or business passengers, while the load factor dropped 6.4 points to 72.7 percent.

"Market conditions remain challenging, with both volume and yield under pressure in all markets... The revenue outlook for the full year (to end March) will be impacted by some GBP20 million - GBP25 million due to the weakness in volume and yield, particularly in US traffic," it said in a statement.

BA, which is in merger talks with Spain's Iberia, confirmed a February forecast that it was likely to make a year to March operating loss of GBP150 million, not including severance costs of GBP75 million.

Irish budget carrier Ryanair posted a 5 percent passenger rise in March, slightly lower than previous months due to the timing of Easter.