BRITISH AIRWAYS generated revenues of €88 million from Ireland in the 12 months to the end of March, an increase of 5 per cent on the previous year.
Simon Daly, BA's sales manager for the Republic of Ireland, said that revenues on its long-haul premium services rose by 11 per cent but income from economy seats declined by 1 per cent.
The Irish revenue performance was slightly ahead of that achieved by its London-based parent group, which yesterday reported a 3.1 per cent rise in global income to £8.75 billion. Its pretax profit increased by 44.5 per cent to £883 million.
The UK airline achieved its long-cherished goal of posting a 10 per cent operating margin.
This was a significant feather in the cap of its Irish-born chief executive Willie Walsh, who nevertheless waived a £700,000 bonus related to achieving the margin target.
Staff, however, will share in a £35 million bonus and the company said it would pay its first dividend to investors since 2001.
BA said the current year would be "challenging" given the economic downturn. The first quarter would be "particularly difficult" given the spike in oil prices.
BA estimated that its fuel bill will rise by about £1 billion for the year as a whole if the price of oil remains at around $120 a barrel.
BA carried 280,000 passengers from Ireland last year. The majority of this traffic was generated through code-sharing agreements with Aer Lingus and British Midlands into Heathrow in London, with Irish passengers connecting onwards to BA on long-haul flights.
Mr Daly described last year's figures as a "good result" given that Aer Lingus added three new transatlantic routes from Dublin and middle eastern airline Ethihad increased its long-haul services from here via its hub in Abu Dhabi.
BA also operates its own service between Dublin and Gatwick in London. It plans to launch a new service from London City Airport to Dublin from June 1st aimed at business executives.
This will comprise three flights a day in each direction and see BA compete head-to-head with CityJet, the Swords-based subsidiary of Air France.
Fares will start at €78 return, including taxes and charges.
About 87 per cent of BA's revenue from Ireland is related to long-haul traffic, while around 30 per cent is spent on premium services.
"This has grown consistently for the past five or six years," Mr Daly said.
British Airways is forecasting flat revenues from Ireland in the current year given the tough economic backdrop, the rising price of oil and increasing competition.
"Our early booking patterns show that there is growth there but we expect flat revenues given the more difficult economic situation."
Mr Daly said he did not envisage BA commencing any services to either Cork or Shannon airports this year.
