British Airways Considers Dropping Business Class on Short Haul Services

It now seems that British Airways could be dropping its business class on a number of short haul services in its battle to stem record losses. Willie Walsh, the Chief executive of British Airways, said that cuts in business travel expenditures have made it unsustainable to fly executives in slightly larger seats for one or two hour journeys.

British Airways has subsequently suffered a sharp drop in short haul business class passengers. These passengers have either downsized to economy or moved to low cost carriers. One in five easyJet passengers are now business travelers.

Walsh went on to say that short haul premium will never fully recover. Part of the business has now changed forever thanks to the recession. Thus, airlines have to find a different way to address it.

British Airways is understood to be reviewing its short haul operations and the premium seats could be removed from planes operating out of Gatwick and regional airports. However, the airline is likely to retain premium seats in short haul flights operating from Heathrow to capture business class transfer traffic.

This cutback comes despite British Airways revealing that they came out better than expected in the third quarter. Analysts have been forecasting operating losses of up to £150 million. The airline reported a £25 million operating profit due to the effects of cost cutting and cheaper fuel.

However the airline is on track to take in a full year loss of £580 million. This would still be a record loss and comes after it lost £401 million last year. Of course, all airlines have been struggling recently due to the effects of the recession.