British Airways chairman backs profit target =97 if no Iraq war NEW YORK (Reuters) =97 The chairman of British Airways, Europe's largest=20 airline, said Tuesday the airline is comfortable with its profit forecast=20 for the current fiscal year so long as war is avoided in Iraq, and sees no= =20 need to cut jobs beyond the 13,000 in its current plan. In an interview=20 with Reuters, Chairman Colin Marshall also backed the company's view of=20 flat revenue for its fiscal year beginning in April, and said British=20 Airways has more than $3 billion (1.89 billion pounds) of cash and=20 available credit. "On any competitive basis, we're certainly in good shape to come through=20 any war," he said. "We certainly believe that our survivability is very=20 high indeed, perhaps a lot higher than many of our competitors." Marshall,= =20 however, suggested that it might be difficult to boost the company's fallen= =20 share price in light of what he called the probability of a U.S.-Iraq war.= =20 "To attempt to boost our share price with the overhang of war would be a=20 wasted effort on our part," he said. British Airways' shares closed Tuesday= =20 on the London Stock Exchange at 102.51 pence, down 3.25 pence, and have=20 dropped more than 60 percent from their 52-week high. Marshall spoke in an= =20 interview after dedicating a renovated British Airways Terminal 7 at John=20 F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. SEPT. 11 HITS HARD British Airways on Feb. 10 posted a third quarter pretax profit of 25=20 million pounds ($39.7 million) on revenue of 1.86 billion pounds ($2.97=20 billion), helped by cuts in jobs, routes and flight capacity. The company=20 had 5.2 billion pounds ($8.26 billion) of debt as of Dec. 31. The Sept. 11= =20 attacks hit the airline hard by damping travel on its key North American=20 routes. British Airways has cut ticket prices in the face of pressure from= =20 low-cost airlines such as EasyJet Plc and Ryanair . Marshall said demand=20 for leisure travel remains "reasonably good," while "it's a tough market"=20 for business travel. On Saturday, British Airways said it will slash costs= =20 an extra 450 million pounds ($714 million) a year by March 2005, on top of= =20 an existing program to deliver annual savings of 650 million pounds ($1.03= =20 billion) by March 2004. The airline will have pared 10,000 jobs by March=20 31, and expects to cut 3,000 more the following year, Marshall said. While= =20 saying that war might hurt the airline's business "for the short term and=20 maybe the medium term," Marshall is focusing most intently on this month.=20 "What worries me most is these next few weeks, with this anticipation of=20 the probability of war and what the effects can be," he said. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.dbombo.net/muddyangels/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************