BA says planned deals all possible

LONDON (Reuters) - British Airways Plc (BAY.L) said its proposed mergers with Iberia and Qantas and a tie-up with American Airlines were not alternatives and could all happen if regulators agree, as it reported a fall in traffic in November.

"We'd be very happy to consummate all these transactions," BA's group treasurer George Stinnes told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday. "It's certainly not an 'either-or' situation."

BA said on Tuesday that it was considering a potential merger with Australian carrier Qantas Airways (QAN.AX) and its discussions were also continuing about a possible merger with Spanish carrier Iberia (IBLA.MC).

BA, Iberia and American Airlines (AMR.N) have also applied to the U.S. regulatory authorities for anti-trust immunity, which would allow them to co-operate in areas such as pricing and marketing.

Stinnes declined to say how likely the various deals were to succeed, or to give a timescale for completing them.

"We're working our way through the agenda," he said. "These things are complex -- it's not like going down to the corner shop and picking up some apples."

TRAFFIC DOWN

Stinnes spoke after BA announced a 5.9 percent fall in traffic in November on a year ago to 8.71 billion revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs).

Overall passenger numbers dipped by 7.8 percent to 2.42 million while BA's passenger load factor -- a measure of how full its aircraft were -- dropped by 2.2 percentage points to 74.4 percent of capacity. Premium traffic fell by 10.8 percent and non-premium traffic dipped by 4.8 percent.

Stinnes said the figures continued a trend begun in September, when business class travel started to weaken, although the decline was in line with BA's expectations.

Financial sector customers such as bankers were traveling less, although business service clients such as lawyers and accountants were "still traveling as much as ever," he said.

"The economic slowdown is certainly affecting air travel and we've been pretty clear about that," he said.

"The current level of decline in premium either side of 10 percent is something we expected to happen."

BA was still expecting to make a small operating profit for the full year, Stinnes said.

"Trading conditions remain broadly unchanged, with longhaul premium traffic stable and consistent with the trends of recent months," BA said in a statement. "Financial guidance for the year remains unchanged."

The figures were a stark contrast with Irish low-cost rival Ryanair (RYA.L), which said its planes were slightly fuller than a year earlier.

Ryanair said its load factor improved for the first time since March, hitting 79 percent of capacity last month compared with 78 percent in November 2007.

Europe's biggest low-cost carrier also said the number of passengers it carried rose 11 percent on the year to 4.32 million.

Ryanair's fast growing fleet and route network means it consistently reports big rises in passenger numbers, but it has been eight months since it last reported an increase in load factor.

(Reporting by Philip Waller and Matt Scuffham, Editing by Greg Mahlich)