Snow costs BA £50m

December's snow has cost British Airways about £50m in the third quarter and a little more at the start of the final three-month period, it confirmed Thursday.BA, due to complete its £5.7bn merger with Spain's Iberia this month, said December traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, fell 8.3% last month, with premium traffic down 1.6% and non-premium by 9.6%.The carrier reported a 0.4 point drop in the passenger load factor compared with a year ago to 76.4%."Traffic was affected by the weather conditions in the UK, Europe and North America, causing airport closures and reduced operating capacities, equivalent to a reduction in capacity versus December 2009 of around 12%, " it said.But the firm added that underlying market conditions remain positive. Bay Capital