British Airways made a loss of £148 million in the three months to June, reporting its first ever operating loss in what is traditionally a profitable period.
The quarterly loss of £94 million on operations compared with a £35 million profit in the same period last year, when the airline went on to report annual losses in excess of £400 million.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh said 1,450 jobs had gone since the end of March, taking the total staff reduction in the past 12 months to 4,000. He expressed confidence that more than 2,000 further jobs would go by next March.
The carrier remains in talks with unions representing cabin crew, baggage handlers and other ground staff on redundancies, cuts in pay and changes to contracts, having already sealed deals with its pilots and engineers.
A 14-day cooling-off period between BA and unions will end next week, following inconclusive talks at conciliation service Acas, with the prospect of strike action growing – although almost certainly not until after the peak holiday season.
BA will ground 16 aircraft this winter, removing 5% of capacity, and a further six aircraft next year. It will also delay delivery of the Airbus A380 ‘super jumbos’ it has on order for up to two years.
The airline’s passenger revenue for the quarter was down 12.5% year on year, against a 3.1% cut in seats available and a 6.6% reduction in operating costs.
Walsh said: “The industry continues to face very difficult trading conditions, with considerable uncertainty over the timing of recovery.”
However, he described BA’s financial position as strong following a recent injection of £680 million through a combination of financial measures.