ATW Daily News

BA's Walsh pledges to avoid bankruptcy, threatens OpenSkies shutdown

Thursday June 11, 2009

British Airways CEO Willie Walsh is persisting with his message that "our business is under threat," and while promising that he "intends to do everything possible to ensure we don't become the next [General Motors]," which filed for bankruptcy protection last week, he reiterated that "in order to survive we all need to take long-term action, and do it quickly."

Walsh has set an end-June deadline to reach agreement with unions on changes in working condition, pay cuts and job reductions (ATWOnline, June 9).

In the latest edition of BA News, he wrote that its OpenSkies subsidiary "is not profitable, Heathrow is not profitable, Gatwick is not profitable, cargo is not profitable and British Airways is not profitable."

He noted that OpenSkies' losses are small compared to those elsewhere in the company and that "closing it would have no material effect on our financial performance. But the team there knows that it will close if it does not deliver on its business plan" (ATWOnline, April 9).

by Cathy Buyck

Other headlines: