BA Boss to passengers: Sorry

Published: 05/02/07

British Airways boss Willy Walsh has apologised to passengers for the disruption caused by industrial action at the airline, and admitted that the various problems faced by BA in recent months have had a massive impact on profitability, which is down around a third on the previous year.

British Airways has had a run of bad luck over recent months including the publicised strike threat and huge delays and cancellations of flights over Christmas due to fog blanketing Heathrow.

Figures are likely to get worse before they get better, with costs of around GBP 80 million quoted for the problems caused by strikes, fuel costs that remain high, and the ongoing costs of heightened security.

Walsh claimed that the airline was set to focus on improving customer service, and to work hard on increasing its market share in the all important premium travel sectors. Business class and premium economy class are likely to receive a marketing boost in the coming months, and the airline is set to focus on driving more traffic onto highly profitable routes such as flights to New York and flights to Dubai.

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