BA's losses widen in fiscal first half due to slump in revenues

07:46 6 Nov 2009 
Source:
This story is sourced from Pro
See more Pro news »

British Airways posted a £208 million ($346 million) loss after tax for the fiscal first half due to a double-digit decline in revenue.

For the six months ending 30 September it had a loss after tax of £208 million compared to a loss after tax of £42 million for the corresponding period last year, BA says to the London stock exchange.

Revenue during the period fell 14% to £4.10 billion from £4.75 billion, it says.

There was an operating loss of £111 million compared to an operating profit of £140 million for the corresponding period, says the Oneworld carrier.

Its pre-tax loss was £292 million compared to a pre-tax profit of £52 million for the corresponding period, it adds.

The group's operating statistics show RPKs fell 1.6% year-on-year and the carrier cut capacity, in terms of ASKs, by 3% which helped to boost the passenger load factor by 1.1 percentage points to 80.6% from 79.5%.

"Aviation remains in recession" but "we were quick to respond to the crisis by taking out excess capacity and, at the same time, driving down unit costs by 5.2%", says BA chief executive Willie Walsh.

"With revenue likely to be £1 billion lower this year, we can't stand still and further cost reduction is essential", he adds.

Airline Business has joined the tablet brigade with the launch of our iPad edition. Find out more

View: All airlines news in a list » | Airlines RSS feed »