British Airways has reported a 26% hike in first half pre-tax profit, in line with expectations, although revenue guidance is reduced to around 3 to 3.5% due to the continued weakness of the dollar.
Profit before tax for the six months ended September rose to £593m from £471m the year before on revenue down nearly 1% to £4.46bn from £4.49bn last time.
The revenue guidance cut follows a previous reduction of 1%, announced in August, to around 4%, which reflected continued dollar weakness and ongoing problems at Heathrow.
BA said passenger revenue fell slightly to some £3.9bn on capacity up half a per cent, while yields also rose half a per cent due to the rise in numbers of premium passengers.
Premium traffic increased by 2.5% hike, although the company said this was largely offset by the weaker dollar, while non-premium traffic has been soft on the North Atlantic and Europe.
"We have also revised our guidance for costs, excluding fuel, which previously was flat. We now expect costs to be down by £100m because of the weak dollar," added the firm.
Fuel costs are expected to be up by £100m on last year, £20m lower than previous guidance, but boss Willie Walsh said these costs remain a major challenge as the group's fuel bill for the year is expected to top £2bn for the first time.
"We see every possibility of achieving our 10%operating margin by March 2008," he added.
