British Airways announces £50 million quarterly loss
In the three months to December 2009 British Airways lost £50 million which is very much less than many analysts had been expecting. The £50 million loss compares to a £122 million loss in the same period for 2008 although the pre-tax loss for the nine months ended December 2009 rose from £70 million in the corresponding period to £342 million.
As we have mentioned on numerous occasions, British Airways is currently locked in legal wrangles with the unions who have threatened strike action on more than one occasion. While these court wranglings continue it seems as though cost-cutting exercises introduced by chief executive Willie Walsh are starting to hit home and impact upon the bottom line. Analysts had been expecting a loss of £151 million in the third quarter so the actual loss of £50 million is a major improvement.
Even though the company is certain to make record losses for the full year as a whole, operating costs have been slashed by 10.5% and many analysts are surprised at the speed at which the cost base has been cut. While there is still much work to be done to pull a company out of the financial mire there is no doubt that progress has been made.
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