Originally Posted by
bafan
But, equally, if you can't see it, how to you know it's true ? Just because the board says so, doesn't mean it's true. And BA is still making hundreds of millions in profit, so it's not like any drop in fares (if there has been any real one) is affecting BA's bottom line.
From the profit figures, it actually looks like they could afford to provide free meals in economy and keep fares at current 'low' levels...
profit doesn't tell you anything about fares though. Raffles is specifically referring to yields which is effectively the fare by passenger/kilometre.
the limit of it of course is that yield can change when fares do not, i.e., imagine that the average fare of your LHR-GVA was £100 in Y and £200 in C with an average plane value of £14,000 and the following year the average plane value is £12,000. It could be that fares declined, but also that they increased in both Y and C but BA sold more Y and less C, or more connecting and less nonstop, or more in currency x and less in currency y (though airlines normally also give figures ex currency) etc.
so yes, yields are down but the relationship between yields and fares is also complex.