British Airways said Friday it swung to a net loss of 127 million pounds ($186 million) for the nine months ending Dec. 31, as fewer passengers boarded its planes amid the economic crisis and fuel costs soared.
The loss compared to a profit of 642 million pounds in the same period of 2007.
BA said its fuel costs were up 48.4 percent to 2.2 billion pounds in the period. A 6.2 percent revenue gain – to 7.05 billion pounds – came from currency fluctuations which offset lower passenger volume.
BA did not break out results for the third quarter.
The figures did not surprise investors, as they were largely in line with BA’s own guidance, given Jan. 26. Shares in the company rose a mild 0.8 percent to 128.6 pence on the London Stock Exchange in early morning Friday.
The airline reaffirmed its guidance of a 150 million pounds operating loss for the full year. That would mean the company expects to absorb an operating loss of nearly 239 million pounds in the fourth quarter.
Passenger numbers were down 3.4 percent to 28.3 million in the 10 months to Jan. 31. In January, they fell 4 percent from the previous month – with premium traffic down a sharp 13 percent – the airline said in a separate report.
British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh said he expected no marked improvement in the economy this year, and that the airline was already working on capacity cuts for next winter.
“We have increased our sales activity in markets with stronger foreign currencies to benefit from exchange and continue to offer competitive fares in both premium and non-premium cabins,” Walsh said.
“We continue to review every aspect of the business to control costs while at the same time improving the customer experience and operation.”
Management was consulting staff unions about “pay and productivity” in an effort to rein in costs, the company said. BA, which has already cut a third of its management team, said it was unlikely to see widespread job losses across its 42,000 work force.
Because of the falling value of the pound, BA said its fuel costs rose higher than the dollar price of oil, which rose 40.4 percent. However, BA said it expected to benefit from falling oil prices next year.
