British Airways (BA) PLC posted a record net loss for the second consecutive year yesterday after a cost savings program at the flagship carrier wasn’t enough to outweigh the impact of lower passenger numbers and strikes by cabin crews.
However, the earnings report for the year ended March 31 was slightly better than had been feared and BA forecast that, excluding taxes, it would break even this year as market conditions improved.
The full-year net loss of £425 million (US$611 million), compared with a £358 million loss the previous year, was the largest since the former national airline was privatized in 1987. Revenue dropped 11 percent to £7.99 billion from £8.99 billion.
The financial update comes just days before BA cabin crews are scheduled to walk off the job again for 15 days in a bitter dispute over changes to pay and working conditions.
A seven-day walkout arranged by the Unite union in March is factored in to the earnings report, but the recent closure of European air space because of the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud is not.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh said the airline was making progress on a cost savings program that has included cutting jobs and restructuring the company.
“Our cost base has improved and we are seeing signs of market conditions improving,” he told reporters on a conference call. “The combination of the two of those leads us to forecast break even at the PBT [profit before tax] level.”
Walsh has warned the Unite union that the changes at the center of their dispute with the airline, including fewer staff on long haul flights, are necessary for BA to survive in a post-financial crisis world.
“Returning the business to profitability requires permanent change across the company and it’s disappointing that our cabin crew union fails to recognize that,” he said.
However, there has been little sign that BA and Unite, which represents around 90 percent of the carrier’s 12,000 cabin crew staff, will be able to reach a deal in the months-long dispute.
Negotiations have become increasingly difficult since Unite forged ahead with a financially damaging walkout in March and BA took disciplinary action against several workers.
Unite was incensed when BA turned to the courts earlier this week, just hours before a planned series of strikes totaling 20 days was to begin on Tuesday, winning a ruling that the walkouts were unlawful because of a technical error in the union’s ballot of members.
That decision by the High Court was overturned by the Court of Appeal on Thursday and Unite announced plans to carry on with the rest of the planned strike dates — May 24 to May 28, May 30 to June 3 and June 5 to June 9.
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
RSS