LONDON - BRITISH Airways (BA) said it had cut its spending plans by 20 per cent for the current year as it prepared for a lengthy industry downturn and reported that passenger numbers had fallen again.

The carrier said it had reduced its capital expenditure to 580 million pounds (S$1.43 billion) for the year to the end of March 2010, down from 725 million, and pencilled in a similar number for the following year.

The spending cuts included the deferral of orders for 12 Airbus A380 aircraft for up to two years.

'We have renegotiated a delivery schedule... the demand we expected in 2012 will now arrive later,' BA head of investor relations George Stinnes told reporters, adding that the firm still expected to have 1 billion pounds in cash by March 2010.

The carrier, currently locked in talks with trade unions in a desperate bid to wring cost cuts from staff, said it carried 3.8 per cent fewer passengers in June than in the same month last year, including a near 15 per cent fall in premium, or business, traffic.

The company said its long-running falls in traffic had stabilised in recent months, while Irish budget airline Ryanair reported its latest rise in numbers - up 13 per cent for June to 5.84 million.

BA's load factor, a measure of how well it fills planes, was down 1.8 per cent at 79.6 per cent, while Ryanair's was up 1 per cent at 85 per cent. -- REUTERS