Walsh says BA is in a fight for its survival

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According to Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, in a recent statement published in the BA newspaper, the carrier is facing a “fight for survival.” He added: “It’s critical that we all recognise that the diagnosis for our airline is now critical.”

Walsh stressed that the crisis the aviation airline was facing “has never been more serious.”

He went on to say: “There has been a significant shift in consumer attitude, with people wanting more and paying less. And things are getting worse. We haven’t yet reached the bottom and everything points towards a protracted downturn.”

Some areas of BA’s business are seeing progress, such as negotiations regarding pay and productivity, but in other areas change “has been slow”, he noted. Walsh indicated that he has set a deadline of 30 June for completing talks with unions.

In April, British Airways reported a record loss, cancelling its dividend to shareholders and said that difficult trading conditions made it impossible to provide guidance for the current period.

In the last year, the airline’s shares have lost 28 per cent of their value. Monday’s closing price was 155.5 pence, which valued the business at 1.79 billion pounds.

Thanks to www.reuters.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

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