British Airways posts record £292m loss

Date: Friday 06 Nov 2009

British Airways reported a record loss of £292m and urged Unite to withdraw its plans for a strike ballot and resume talks with the carrier.

Result of a planned strike ballot are expected to be announced on 14 December. Some 14,000 BA cabin crew would be free to walk out as early as 21 December, the Unite union told 3,000 BA staff at a mass meeting at Sandown racecourse earlier this week.

The loss before tax of £292m, or £244m before restructuring costs, compares with a profit of £52m last year. Revenue was down 13.7% to £4.1bn. Net losses came to £208m.

Losses were tipped to hit around £200m, with revenues down to £4.1bn.

The figures reflect a sharp fall in premium traffic and pressure on passenger yields from lower fuel surcharges, exchange movements and mix effects.

Yields were down 12.2%, 18.2% excluding exchange, largely as a result of lower year on year surcharges and sales mix within cabin class. 

‘The global airline industry is facing continued pressure on yields highlighting a significant shift within the industry,’ said chief executive Willie Walsh. ‘We will introduce further structural change in the second half to secure the long term future for our business.’

'We are cutting winter capacity by 6 per cent and making further manpower reductions of 3000 by March 2010 and permanent changes to the way we run our business,’ he added.

BA said it remains focused on talks with Spanish carrier Iberia regarding a potential tie-up and has developed a good relationship with the group’s new management team.

Separately, the airline reported a 6.4% drop in passenger capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres, in October. Traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, fell by 1.9%.

This resulted in a passenger load factor increase of 3.7 points versus last year, to 80.7%. Traffic comprised a 1.4% decrease in premium traffic and a 2.0% decrease in non-premium traffic.  

Cargo, measured in Cargo Tonne Kilometres, fell by 0.9%

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