High costs fuel record loss at BA
British Airways has announced the biggest loss since the company was privatised in 1987.
BA reported a loss before tax of £401m for the year to 31 March, after seeing its results hit by a weak pound and higher fuel costs.
The airline made a revised profit of £922m in the previous year.
BA also offered staff the option of taking unpaid leave or working part-time. Chief executive Willie Walsh said he would work for no pay in July.
Mr Walsh said: "I certainly want to make a contribution in recognition of the extremely challenging position we face. This is no stunt. I do not easily give up anything I have earned."
Mr Walsh earns £735,000 a year.
Finance director Keith Williams, who is paid £440,000, will also forgo his pay for the month of July.
Fuel pressures
Although revenues increased to almost £9bn, BA faced a near-£3bn fuel bill.
Mr Walsh said he saw "no signs of recovery anywhere".
“ It's difficult to avoid the impression that at least part of BA's agony, its descent in just 12 months from record profits to record losses, was of its own making ”
Robert Peston, BBC business editor
Fuel costs rose 44.5% after the price of oil soared last year. The weaker pound also contributed to rising costs as fuel is bought in US dollars.
But the airline said it expected lower fuel prices to reduce its fuel costs by about £400m in the year ahead.
The results also included redundancy-related costs of £78m.
BA said it had cut more than 2,500 jobs since last summer and added that it was in talks with unions about "pay and productivity changes".
'Self-inflicted wounds'
Despite BA's claims that it has been a victim of a downturn in global conditions, analysts say the airline is not entirely blameless for its poor results.
Tom Symonds, BBC transport correspondent
One of BA's biggest problems is the drop in numbers by 13% of the airline's real earners - the business passengers.
The airline is doing all it can to keep them flying, including in recent months a Buy One Get One Free offer.
It is much harder for BA to take on the likes of easyJet and Ryanair when it comes to offering cheap economy seats. And easyJet in particular is deliberately punting for business passengers forced to travel on a budget.
The other big problem is an old one. BA's fuel bills have soared by 44.5% in the last year.
The real problem is that the world's airlines buy their fuel in dollars, and the exchange rate against the pound is not good for BA.
"The first half of the year really was [a period of] self-inflicted wounds from the Terminal 5 opening problems," said airline consultant John Strickland.
Travel writer Simon Calder added that BA had been particularly hit by a fall in premium traffic - business class and first class passengers - which was down 13%.
"The premium traffic which accounts for half their income has simply dried up," he said.
"They base their business on the fact that there will be plenty of businesses wanting to fly and businesses are simply cutting back.
"British Airways has been losing £7 every second for the past year, which is pretty grim."
The BBC's business editor Robert Peston said that BA's loss was a result of "a lamentable rise in costs", including engineering and aircraft costs, landing fees and staff costs.
It seems that making historical losses has become the destiny for oneworld members..
.
