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PRELIMINARY RESULTS ANNOUNCEMENT

Year April 1, 2008 - March 31, 2009

RESULTS REFLECT BLEAK TRADING ENVIRONMENT

British Airways today (May 22) presented its preliminary results for the 12 months ended March 31, 2009.

Period highlights:

· Operating loss of £220 million, including restructuring costs of £78 million (2008: £878 million profit - restated)
· Loss before tax of £401 million (2008: £922 million profit - restated)
· Revenue £8,992 million (2008: £8,758 million - restated)
· Full year fuel costs near to £3 billion
· Significantly better operational performance, particularly punctuality

British Airways' chief executive Willie Walsh, said:

"Reduced passenger and cargo demand and high fuel prices last summer contributed to our £220 million operating loss as our total fuel bill reached almost £3 billion. The prolonged nature of the global downturn makes this the harshest trading environment we have ever faced and, with no immediate improvement visible, market conditions remain challenging. It is vital, therefore, that we remain absolutely committed to our plans to establish British Airways as a high-performing, market-focused, global premium airline.

Financial review

Group revenue in quarter 4 was down 8.4 per cent to £1.9 billion on operating costs up 13.3 per cent, resulting in an operating loss of £309 million. Excluding fuel costs and the impact of exchange, operating costs were down 5.5 per cent in the quarter. Quarter 4 loss before tax was £331 million. Passenger revenue for quarter 4 was down 8.0 per cent. Yields were down 2.5 per cent, down 16.0 per cent excluding exchange.

Full year revenue was up 2.7 per cent to just under £9.0 billion (including £109 million arising from a change in estimation basis for unused tickets). Excluding year on year exchange effects, underlying revenue was down 3.7 per cent.

Passenger revenue rose 3.1 per cent to £7.8 billion, on capacity down 0.7 per cent. Seat factor was down 2.1 points to 77.0 per cent. Yields, however, rose 6.7 per cent as a result of currency impacts. At constant exchange, passenger yields were broadly flat.

The economic downturn led to a significant fall in global demand for premium travel, with IATA premium traffic down around 14 per cent (our premium traffic was down 13 per cent), in the second half of the year. Our premium traffic volume, which started to see some weakness back in August, has steadily declined in the second half in response to the economic slowdown. Significant pricing actions were required to stimulate non-premium traffic volumes, which were broadly unchanged year on year.

Total traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, was down 3.4 per cent. Total passengers carried fell by 4.3 per cent to 33.1 million.

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