=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2002/02/04/f= inancial1110EST0078.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, February 4, 2002 (AP) British Airways announces third-quarter loss of $203 million (02-04) 08:10 PST LONDON (AP) -- British Airways PLC lost 144 million pounds ($203 million) in its third fiscal quarter as sales tumbled in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. The loss announced Monday for the three months ended Dec. 31 compared to= a net profit of 36 million pounds a year earlier. BA said its operating loss for the quarter was 187 million pounds ($264 million) versus an operating profit of 80 million pounds for the same period in 2000. Some analysts had forecast operating losses as high as 255 million pounds. Third-quarter sales fell to 1.84 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) from 2.30 billion pounds a year ago. BA has cut unprofitable routes and eliminated 7,000 jobs over the past year in response to a downturn in demand, particularly in its core trans-Atlantic business. The airline is expected to announce further job and route cuts later this month. The company said traffic volume fell by 20.3 percent in the quarter, and passenger capacity -- a measure of the number of available seats -- was down 16.3 percent. BA said its costs fell by 8.5 percent in the three months to Dec. 31. For the first nine months of its fiscal year, BA lost 99 million pounds ($140 million), compared with a profit of 119 million pounds a year earlier. Sales for the nine months fell to 6.39 billion pounds ($9 billion) from 7.16 billion pounds in 2000. "We have made real progress in managing our costs, but British Airways still faces a number of considerable challenges some of which were apparent before the terrorist attacks on the U.S.A.," said the company's chief executive, Rod Eddington. Eddington told British Broadcasting Corp. radio Monday that BA must "take costs out of our business." "We are going to have to take some more jobs out of our business," he said. BA shares rose 0.35 percent in London trading. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 AP