British Airways (BA) has unveiled its worst set of results since being privatised 15 years ago with a 200 million sterling loss.
But it kept the stock market happy because the loss was well below analysts' forecasts.
Looking ahead, BA said any improvement in performance would more likely be achieved by continuing to keep a tight rein on costs, such as its ongoing programme of 13,500 job cuts, rather than improving passenger revenues.
Warnings about possible terrorist attacks, such as that issued by the United States over the weekend, meant "it is difficult to speak with any authority on revenues," chief executive Mr Rod Eddington told reporters this morning.
Fund manager Ms Amanda Forsyth of Standard Life Investments, whose fund holds 2.5 per cent of BA's shares, said: "The thing I am most impressed about is that they have taken huge swathes out of the costs without affecting operating performance".
