The airline operator's view— British Airways

Extract

I should like to discuss six aspects of the White Paper which seem to me to be of significance. First, the demand forecasts. I suppose, from personal experience at least, it has to be said that no forecast will ever prove to survive reality; for as Peter Parker put it, the goalposts keep moving. So it is today, for the White Paper includes traffic growth assessments based on fare levels and conditions much as experienced during the past few years, but not reflecting the competitive race to reduce fares and to ease restrictions which we have seen in progress during the last few months. New lower readily accessible fare packages are now available on the Atlantic routes, and the trend will spread to other markets—indeed this is already beginning. There are similar pressures in the air cargo field, and the resulting upward movement in demand levels is already evident.