LONDON (AP) — British Airways said yesterday that January traffic fell 2.8 percent compared with the same month in 2006, with the threat of strikes from cabin crews particularly affecting higher-prices ticket sales.Traffic was measured in terms of revenue derived from each kilometre travelled by its passengers. Passenger load factor — or the amount of space taken up on BA’s planes by passengers — slipped 3 percentage points to 69.5 percent, the airline said in a statement.

“This month’s statistics were significantly impacted by the threat of industrial action,” the company said. “Premium volumes suffered the largest reductions as most tickets are flexible and refundable, and customers are easily able to move to other carriers.”

BA said it saw a 3.1 decrease in premium traffic and a 2.7 percent decrease in non-premium traffic.

A proposed 48-hour walkout last week was called off at the last minute, though BA said on Friday it was still likely to cost $80 million ($157.3 million) in lost revenues because a deal with the union came after it already announced flight cancellations, offering passengers refunds, later flights and transfers to other airlines.