Low-fare rivals put BA in a spin

British Airways was in freefall on the stock market today as investors fretted over its loss of thousands of passengers a day to its low-fare rivals easyJet and Ryanair.

BA shares were 15.7p, or almost 10%, weaker at a five-and-a-half year low of 149.7p, extending Friday's sharp fall after a profits and revenues warning in which the flag carrier admitted it could lurch into the red this year.

Today's announcement that easyJet passenger numbers are rising at a rate of 22% a year, similar to that recently reported by Ryanair, concentrated investors' minds on BA's comparative performance.

For September, BA's passenger numbers in the UK and Europe were down by almost 4000 a day, a
year-on-year fall of 5.9%. Among BA business class passengers, the fall was 8.6%.

That appears to back up claims from easyJet and Ryanair that they are are winning business folk and bankers, whose employers are cutting travel budgets.