January traffic statistics

British Airways PLC
05 February 2003



TRAFFIC AND CAPACITY STATISTICS - January 2003

Summary of the headline figures

In January 2003, overall load factor improved by 0.9 points to 63.4 per cent.
Passenger capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres, was 2.8 per cent
below January 2002 and traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, was
lower by 1.8 per cent. This resulted in a passenger load factor improvement of
0.6 points versus last year, to 69.2 per cent. The fall in traffic comprised a
7.6 per cent reduction in premium traffic and a 0.8 per cent decrease in
non-premium traffic. Cargo, measured in Cargo Tonne Kilometres, increased by 0.5
per cent.

 Market conditions

The economic and political environment continues to be challenging.

 Strategic Developments

British Airways announced its shorthaul summer 2003 schedule which includes new
routes from London Gatwick and Manchester airports and increased services on
profitable routes to Europe.

At Gatwick, a new service will start to Krakow in Poland three times a week and
services to Athens will be reinstated with six flights a week. There will be
extra daily flights to Italian destinations including Rome, Genoa, Venice and
Verona and an extra weekly service to Naples. An additional weekly flight will
operate to Pristina in Kosovo.

At Heathrow, there will be an additional daily service to Brussels and
Copenhagen, three extra weekly flights to Helsinki and two extra weekly flights
to Larnaca in Cyprus. Services to Belgrade will move from Gatwick to Heathrow
where there will be four flights each week. At Manchester, there will be three
new services with daily flights to Bologna, Pisa and Vienna and extra daily
frequencies to Geneva, Glasgow, Hanover and Rome and an additional weekly
service to Lyon. Services to Gothenburg will be suspended.

The airline began wearer trials of a new uniform for customer contact staff.

British Airways submitted its detailed response to the CAA as part of the
consultation process on airport charges. It said an increase in airport charges
of 6.5 per cent above inflation at Heathrow from April 2003 - 2008 means
airlines are being asked to pay £300m in advance for airport services which they
and their passengers won't benefit from for many years. The submission also said
the increase in charges was based on an unreasonably high cost of capital at
7.75 per cent compared with BAA's historic cost of capital of below 7 per cent.
Other UK utility regulators use a cost of capital of 6-6.5 per cent. Financial
analysts' cost of capital estimates are in the range of 6-7 per cent.

                                      ends

February 5, 2003 008/CW/03


                                BRITISH AIRWAYS MONTHLY TRAFFIC AND CAPACITY STATISTICS

                                              Month of January                           Financial year to date
                                                                                         April through January
                                                              Change                                       Change

SCHEDULED SERVICES                       2003        2002        (%)            2002/3       2001/2           (%)

Passengers carried (000)

UK/Europe                                1848        1794       +3.0             22597        23271          -2.9

Americas                                  521         504       +3.3              5658         5613          +0.8

Asia Pacific                              128         159      -19.7              1318         1478         -10.8

Africa and Middle East                    247         236       +4.6              2147         2322          -7.5

Total                                    2743        2693       +1.9             31720        32684          -2.9

Revenue passenger km (m)

UK/Europe                                1415        1376       +2.8             17761        18704          -5.0

Americas                                 3552        3495       +1.6             38155        38374          -0.6

Asia Pacific                             1331        1656      -19.6             13473        14896          -9.6

Africa and Middle East                   1695        1615       +5.0             14512        15715          -7.7

Total                                    7993        8142       -1.8             83901        87689          -4.3

Available seat km (m)

UK/Europe                                2550        2575       -1.0             26361        29824         -11.6

Americas                                 5091        4997       +1.9             51846        53340          -2.8

Asia Pacific                             1725        2149      -19.7             17353        20485         -15.3

Africa and Middle East                   2180        2153       +1.2             20515        22317          -8.1

Total                                   11545       11875       -2.8            116076       125966          -7.9

Passenger load factor (%)

UK/Europe                                55.5        53.4       +2.1 pts          67.4         62.7          +4.7 pts

Americas                                 69.8        69.9       -0.1 pts          73.6         71.9          +1.7 pts

Asia Pacific                             77.2        77.1       +0.1 pts          77.6         72.7          +4.9 pts

Africa and Middle East                   77.8        75.0       +2.8 pts          70.7         70.4          +0.3 pts

Total                                    69.2        68.6       +0.6 pts          72.3         69.6          +2.7 pts

Revenue tonne km (RTK) (m)

Cargo tonne km (CTK)                      310         308       +0.5              3528         3334          +5.8

Total RTK                                1120        1133       -1.2             11922        12114          -1.6

Available tonne km (m)                   1766        1813       -2.6             17832        19129          -6.8

Overall load factor (%)                  63.4        62.5       +0.9 pts          66.9         63.3          +3.6 pts


Certain information included in this statement is forward-looking and involves
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those expressed or implied by the forward looking statements.

Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, projections relating to
results of operations and financial conditions and the Company's plans and
objectives for future operations, including, without limitation, discussions of
the Company's 'Future Size and Shape' programme, expected future revenues,
financing plans and expected expenditures and divestments. All forward-looking
statements in this report are based upon information known to the Company on the
date of this report. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or
revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.

It is not reasonably possible to itemise all of the many factors and specific
events that could cause the Company's forward looking statements to be incorrect
or that could otherwise have a material adverse effect on the future operations
or results of an airline operating in the global economy. Information on some
factors which could result in material difference to the results is available in
the Company's SEC filings, including, without limitation the Company's Report on
Form 20-F for the year ended March 2002.

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