BA passengers down, slashes spending

The carrier, currently locked in talks with trade unions in a desperate bid to wring cost cuts from staff, said in a statement its latest slide in traffic included a near 15 percent slump in demand for premium, or business class seats.

It said it had responded by cutting costs, grounding planes and delaying the delivery of new aircraft. Capital expenditure will now be 580 million pounds in 2009/10, down from previous plans for 725 million, with a similar figure pencilled in for the following year.

The load factor, a measure of how well it fills planes, was down 1.8 percent at 79.6 percent, while cargo traffic was down nearly 10 percent.

BA shares were up 5.5 percent at 125.4 pence by 2:34 p.m., valuing the business at 1.44 billion pounds.

(Reporting by John Bowker, Editing by Myles Neligan)