Cost-cutting at British Airways helped it post a third quarter profit above market expectations this morning.
Europe's biggest airline also said that in the absence of war in Iraq it expected to turn a yearly profit. But the group warned it expected the business environment in 2003 to be tougher than last year and was still not anticipating any growth in revenues.
The carrier has slashed thousands of jobs, cut capacity and dropped ticket prices in response to weak demand and competition from Europe's budget airlines.
It reported a pre-tax profit of £25m for the third quarter, compared with a loss of £160m last year after reducing costs by 9.4%. Turnover edged up 1% to £1.86 billion.
