British Airways today (May 21) announced a pre-tax loss of £531m for the year ending March 31.
It is the UK national carrier's biggest deficit since privatisation in 1987 and 32% worse than the £401m loss reported in 2009.
The airline, which faces a series of five day strikes by cabin crew possibly starting from Monday, said revenue for the year had dropped by £1bn to £7,994m, compared to £8,992m in 2009.
But the airline said its fuel costs had dropped by £597m during the year while other costs had fallen by £390m.
BA said for the last quarter of 2009-2010 its operating loss was £145m, compared with £309m fro the same period in 2008-2009.
Chief executive Willie Walsh said: "Despite a £1bn drop in revenue during the year, our determined efforts on cost control mean that costs have reduced at a comparable level and our operating loss is virtually the same as in the previous year.
"To be in the midst of the biggest economic downturn in 60 years and produce the same operating figure as last year shows the hard work that has been put into steering our business through the recession.
"Total costs are down by almost £1bn, comprising a £597m reduction in fuel costs and a £390m reduction in non-fuel costs. The cut in non-fuel costs has been achieved by the introduction of permanent structural change in the way that we work allied with capacity reductions and cuts in external spend."
He said the returning the airline to profitability required "permanent change across the company and it's disappointing that our cabin crew union fails to recognise that."
Martin Broughton, BA's chairman, said:"This is our second consecutive year of record losses but we take heart from the fact that, while our revenue has fallen by £1bn, so have our costs."
But he added that the outlook for aviation was becoming "slightly more positive".
In an interview on BBC Radio, Walsh said he was ready to sit down with the two joint general secretaries of the Unite union over the weekend.
He said that he, Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson had met alone last Wednesday evening and with "Tony" again last night. He said he believed they could reach an agreement.
But he accused a "rogue branch" of the union, BSSA, the cabin crew's association, of blocking any deal.
He said this branch was "dysfunctional" and he would not allow BA to be "dragged down by a minority of people."
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