British Airways today said it would delay the delivery of its A380 superjumbos by one year, as the carrier announced first half losses of £292 million.
BA had been due to take delivery of its first A380 aircraft in 2012, but this has now been pushed back to 2013, following the completion of discussions with Airbus. The carrier’s superjumbos will now be delivered between 2013 and 2016.
The news comes as BA announced first half losses (before tax) of £292 million, compared with a profit of £52 million for the same period last year. The airline’s revenue is also down 13.7 per cent.
Commenting on the losses CEO Willie Walsh said the airline industry is set to lose $11 billion this year according to IATA predictions, with BA’s revenue “likely to be £1 billion lower this year”.
However he said that the airline is “continuing to innovate with new services for customers to strengthen our position as the leading global premium airline”. He pointed to the launch of all-business class services from London City to New York, and said that BA had seen “an excellent response” to the carrier's new option to pay to reserve seats more than 24 hours in advance, although many posts on the businesstraveller.com forum are at odds with this.
Walsh said that BA will go ahead with changes to cabin crew working practices on November 16, and urged the Unite union to withdraw its plans for an industrial action ballot, the results of which will be known on December 14.
For more information visit ba.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
