British Airways Carried aloft as Passenger Figures Rise in the East

With the prospect of strike action and disruption looming large on the horizon, British Airways may not have a lot of fabs among its passengers. But it did manage to get some friends.
Behind the optimism was upbeat data from the International Air Transport Association and encouraging comments from two competitors, which sent the shares of BA higher. The updates came after BA reported a surprise third-quarter operating profit in Feburary, aided by heavy cost-cutting. However, the company is concerned about that it was still in a worse position than a year ago.
IATA said that driven by Asian routes, the passenger demand was up by 6.4% in January on the same month a year ago.
Investors also took heart after Lufthansa, the German carrier, said that the operating profit of the company for 2009 would be better than expected. And according to the US airline—Continental, it is said that the passenger revenues had grown by at least 7.5% in Feburary.