Anyone know why BAY is rising so strongly in spite of all the bad news regarding delayed flights, etc.?
All comments appreciated

BA has certainly lost its touch with its passengers (losing baggages and imposing luggage restrictions and poor services) and its employee (strike and pension downfall)...now 448p and further downtrend...SELL


BA May passenger traffic down 2.1 pct, load factor down 1.5 pct points UPDATE - AFX
(recasts with detail from statement)

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - British Airways PLC blamed a particularly strong May in 2006 and the timing of bank holidays this year for a 2.1 pct decline in passenger traffic last month.

BA said May 2006 was a particularly strong month with premium traffic up 13.9 pct and non-premium up 5.7 pct, leading to soft year-on-year performance.

The flag carrier warned that premium growth in the first half of the year is unlikely due to high comparative seat factors.

It also said continuing carry-on baggage restrictions at Heathrow and the weak US dollar were responsible for the fall in traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres, to 9.3 bln from 9.5 bln last year.

BA said the fall in revenue passenger kilometres resulted in a decline in the passenger load factor - a measure of how full its planes were - of 1.5 percentage points versus last year, to 73.3 pct.

The decrease in traffic comprised a 2.1 pct fall in premium traffic and a 2.1 pct drop in non-premium traffic.

BA said some weakness in the non-premium market, particularly on North Atlantic and short haul domestic routes, continues.

'Premium demand is expected to continue driving high seat factors,' BA added in a statement. 'Visibility around forward bookings continues to be limited.'

Traffic measured in numbers of passengers carried in May dropped by 1.3 pct to 2.83 mln from 2.87 mln. Since the start of the financial year in April, it fell 0.8 pct to 5.65 mln from 5.69 mln beforehand. Cargo measured in tonne kilometres fell 2 pct to 402 mln.

philip.waller@thomson.com

hyle I have a lot of these shares I have bought at 5.07 the dearest and the cheapest ones at 4.70 etc. I feel the drop has been well over done. take also into consideration the takeover aspect. I must work out the average price on my shares. I am going to hang on to mine. good luck to all holding.

Janethennison,If i may add my two penneth in,i agrre ,you should hold on to these,the price is depressed because of the investigation and some concern should BA buy IB,650pence in twelve months.Good luck.

In my opinion, BA has no credibility.

bay are one of the largest airlines in the world and they are not going to disapear.

Of course it is not going to disappear but it will not be doing well. Profit warnings may appear when passenger volume goes down.

Ba is historically making more money per pound than ever,let it get its current issues behind it and you will see the sp recover,i also still believe it remains a takeover target,do nnot be suprised if lufthansa do to B.A,what B.A.wanted to do with KLM.

B.A,will not let open skies pass it without it grabbing new oportunities,T5 will give BA huge cost savings,SP is oversold even though it may fall further i really do think it will be in the 600p range in the next 12 months.

BA is going Kamikaze now...SELL as price war has been announced by Ryanair and BA is certainly not able to compete with its fares...passenger numbers will be much lower this summer.

EasyJet May passenger numbers up 13.8 pct, sees FY pretax profit up 40-50 pct AFX

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Low-cost airline easyJet PLC said it carried 13.8 pct more passengers in May than the same month last year adding that it remains on track to grow pretax profits this year by between 40 pct to 50 pct.

The Luton-based budget carrier said 3,345,465 people travelled on its services in May against 2,939,361 the year before.

However, easyJet said its load factor - how full its aircraft were - declined by 0.3 pct points to 83.6 pct.

And the airline expects total revenue per seat to fall by 5 pct to 10 pct in the second half. However it also anticipates a 5% cut unit costs, excluding fuel, over the same period.

In the 12 months to May, the group's passenger numbers climbed 11.1 pct to 35,237,323 and the load factor fell 0.2 pct points to 84.0 pct.

TFN.newsdesk@thomson.com

janetbennison,go to reuters,statment from mr walsh in Milan recently.HOLD

capetown the write up at reuters sounds very good, and hopefully the share price drop has now been well overdone. thankyou for pointing this statement out to me. Good luck from janet.

From The Sunday TimesMay 27, 2007

BA chiefs face extradition over price fixingDavid Leppard
AMERICAN government prosecutors are preparing for the extradition of four current or former British Airways executives accused of involvement in a price-fixing scandal.

Lawyers from the US Department of Justice have notified the mens lawyers that they will want to talk to them. The BA Four could face more than 20 years in jail if they are extradited and convicted in a US court.

A team from the department has visited Britain and other European countries to gather evidence for a possible prosecution. It has established a federal grand jury to consider whether charges should be brought.

The case is also being investigated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in Britain.

In 2004 and 2005, both BA and Virgin imposed a series of almost identical fuel surcharges on London-New York flights. The price rises, which cumulatively added 70 to the price of a ticket, were in some cases announced by both airlines within days of each other.

At the time, BA said it was simply reacting to rises in the price of aircraft fuel. However, American investigators have obtained telephone records that allegedly show two BA executives talking to two Virgin executives at key moments in the run-up to the price rises.

This month BA admitted that it had breached competition laws. Willie Walsh, its chief executive, said nine days ago that the airline had set aside 350m to cover any legal case.

It had previously been thought that only two BA executives were involved in the inquiry. Martin George, BAs commercial director, and Iain Burns, its head of communications, were both given leave of absence when BA revealed the existence of the inquiry last June. They resigned last autumn.

It has now emerged that two other BA executives, who still work at the airline, are being investigated. American legal sources said one was a senior executive in the marketing department, the other a rising star on the commercial side.

The case of the BA Four is threatening to revive concerns about an extradition treaty that ministers signed with America in 2003. It has been criticised as one-sided because it allows America to obtain the extradition of British citizens without prima facie evidence. Far tougher rules apply if Britain seeks to extradite American citizens.

The alleged price-rigging emerged when Virgin decided to notify the OFT early last year. Under the 2002 Enterprise Act, a company that tips off the authorities about an alleged offence and provides evidence to support a prosecution can be granted immunity from prosecution.

The act allows for fines of up to 10% of a companys turnover. Individuals found guilty of price-fixing face up to five years in jail. The maximum sentence for price-rigging in America is life imprisonment.

JANET,HOPE U HELD ONTO YOUR SHARES,SEE THAT THEY HAVE BEEN UPGRADED TO INVESTMENT STATUS AFTER FOUR YEARS OF WAITING,DIVIDENDS COMING SOON I THINK.

I have still got my british airways shares, I am still sitting on a massive loss with them. Lets hope that now they have been upgraded that they will shoot back up to five pounds a share again. What do you think the chances of that happening are? and the very best of luck to all holding. take care all from janet.

Janet you are looking at 600p,in 9/12months.

lets hope so

i actually worked for BA for 18 years and left just over two years ago. I am positive BA are about to anounce a huge rise in its profits, it has virtualy cleared the debt of 5.5 billion to 900 million. The company has shed many of its liabilities including leased areas of land at heathrow and old hangars. The move to t5 will certainly make the airline more efficient in terms of on time departures and will make airine connections easier between long and shorthaul operations.The pension fund issues have been sorted. Many peole will not be awre of other issue that really affected BA's operation such as the introduction of a new engineering software programme EWS from SAP. The introduction of this programme caused massive disruption to the airline two years ago, but was however well covered up by the airline. The new EWS programme will also (now its bedded in) improve aircraft maintenance due to improved spares ordering.

janet,realx,YOU WILL SEE 600P

I am not so sure with the fuel price rising, I think BA will drop further and its ticket price are not competitive enough.