The number of people travelling on British Airways' flights rose last month compared with July 2003 when services were hit by an unofficial strike among check-in staff.

In July 2004, BA carried 3.40 million passengers - 4.1% more than in the same month last year.

The big increase last month was in Asia Pacific passenger numbers (up 17.0%), while Africa and the Middle East rose 12.1%, North and South America was up 5.1% and UK and Europe increased 2.3%.

The load factor - which indicates just how full planes are - was 79.7% in July 2004 compared with 76.4% in July 2003. The biggest load factor increase was on North and South American routes - up 4.4% to 83.7%.

Premium traffic - comprising passenger levels in first and business class - rose 9.7% last month, while non-premium, or economy, traffic increased 8.1%.

BA said long-haul premium traffic was "recovering steadily" while short-haul premium numbers remained "at lower levels".

Thursday August 05, 2004