British Airways has announced a big drop in passenger traffic in June, and said the outlook for the market remained "soft".

The airline blamed disruption in air traffic control, along with the Golden Jubilee, the World Cup and "falling confidence in financial markets", had contributed to the fall in numbers.

June traffic, measured in the number of kilometres flown per paying customer, fell 13.1% compared with a year before.

The airline carried 3.3 million passengers last month, down 12.2% compared with last year, but higher than May's total of 3.1 million.

Tough month

The new national air traffic control centre in Swanwick has suffered from a number of technical problems, and two weeks ago a strike by many European air traffic controls caused major disruption.

But BA said it hoped to reap benefits from cut prices fares revealed last month in a bid to win business back from no-frills carriers.

"In UK/Europe, seat factors are expected to benefit from the further roll-out of new fare structures through the summer," BA said.

BA's European short haul services have been hit hard by competition from low cost airlines such as Ryanair and Easyjet - as well as the post-11 September slump in passenger numbers.

British Airways reported a loss of �200m in May - its worst loss since it was privatised 15 years ago.

The airline is attempting to cut costs by shedding thousands of jobs, reducing seat capacity, and shrinking its operations at London's Gatwick airport.