For the first time in two years, British Airways has declared a half-year profit.

Airport news for Flights,Travel on 01/11/2010.

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In the run up to its merger with Spanish carrier Iberia, British Airways has reported a half-year profit. The first profit BA has declared in two years, the half-year profit comes in at £158 million. The profit is particularly impressive, as the airline has battled travel disruption since the beginning of the year, including strikes by cabin crew.

Iberia, with which British Airways will soon merge, reported a profit for the first nine months of 2010 of 53 million euros. According to separate reports, senior executives at British Airways, including chief executive Willie Walsh, will enjoy major increases in pay after the merger of BA and Iberia.

The profit declared by British Airways was double that expected by analysts, who had forecast the carrier declaring a profit of £75 million. Over the same period, BA’s revenues rose 8.4 per cent, to £4.4 billion, driven by a 39-per-cent boost in revenues from BA’s cargo business.

BA said it managed to cut costs by 1.5 per cent and planned to continue focusing on controlling costs. BA’s business performed particularly well in the last half of the reporting period. Thanks to a lack of problems with industrial action or volcanic ash, pre-tax profits hit £322 million in the three months to September.

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