Lower costs drive British Airways profit

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British Airways has announced a pre-tax profit of £355m ($571.6m) for the nine months to December 31

The figure compares very favourably with the same period 2001, which saw a £115m ($185.2m) pre-tax loss. Pre-tax profit for the three-month period was £25m ($40.3m).

The turn-around in the airline's fortunes has been achieved largely through cost-cutting. BA's staff was cut by more than 9,000 since August 2001, and that figure is forecast to reach 13,000 by March 2004.

BA chief executive Rod Eddington said: "One year on, our Future Size and Shape programme of cost control and simplification continues to make us a leaner, fitter and more competitive airline. Our total costs in the last twelve months are £1bn ($1.6bn) lower than the previous year."