BRITISH AIRWAYS is still expecting to show a small profit at the end of the current financial year, even though interim pre-tax profits slumped more than 90 per cent.
In the April-September period, they plummeted to £52 million, down from £616 million for the same period in 2007. Operating profit fell from £567 million to £140 million. Nevertheless, chief executive Willie Walsh is optimistic the airline is on track to make "a small profit" for the full year.
"This is a good performance given the incredibly difficult trading conditions," he insisted. "The six-month period will be remembered as one of the bleakest on record, hit by a crisis in the banking sector, record fuel prices and several airlines going out of business.
"Against this very tough economic backdrop we have delivered profits of £140 million, resulting from a 6.4 per cent revenue increase." Overall costs were up £711 million, of which £511 million was accounted for by the increase in the airline's fuel bill. Key non-fuel cost culprits were staffing and the move to Terminal 5.
BA is cutting capacity next summer, albeit only by one per cent. Heathrow services to Dhaka and Kolkata, and Gatwick services to Dublin and Zurich are to be axed.