The article below from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight ------------\ GARDEN STATE: NOW PLAYING IN SELECT THEATERS GARDEN STATE stars Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard and Ian Holm. NEWSWEEK's David Ansen says "Writer-Director Zach Braff has a genuine filmmaker's eye and is loaded with talent." Watch the teaser trailer that has all of America buzzing and talk back with Zach Braff on the Garden State Blog at: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/gardenstate/index_nyt.html \----------------------------------------------------------/ British Airways Posts Profit in a Difficult Environment August 10, 2004 By HEATHER TIMMONS LONDON, Aug. 9 - British Airways reported a profit of £70 million ($128.8 million) on Monday for the three months ended June 30, in contrast to a loss of £63 million ($116 million) a year earlier. But several issues raised concerns about future results. For one, on Monday, the airline, Europe's second largest, increased its fuel surcharge to £6 ($11) a passenger, for long one-way trips, effective Wednesday, from £2.50 ($3.68). Virgin Airways followed suit Monday afternoon, raising its one-way fuel surcharge to £6. Total sales at British Airways were up 5.1 percent, to £1.93 billion ($3.55 billion). The quarterly figures are "strong, but progress from here will be more difficult," Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein said in a note to investors on Monday. The airline has cut costs and thousands of jobs in recent years as competition from low-cost airlines has increased. British Airways is in an earning recovery, the note said, but rising fuel costs and the uncertain outcome of talks with unions "limit near-term upside." Another problem is that the airline is embroiled in an escalating battle with the Italian government and Italy's state-run airline, Alitalia, over fares. The Department of Transport in Britain said Monday that "Italy appears to be protecting Alitalia," and both the government and British Airways are asking the European Commission to step in. The dispute concerns British Airways fares for flights from Italy to New York, which are routed through the airline's London hub at Heathrow; those fares can be cheaper than Alitalia's fares for a direct flight from the same Italian city to New York. The Italian government contends that the lower fares are illegal, and is threatening to take action against British Airways, which could mean issuing fines or even refusing to let passengers board British Airways planes in Italian cities. British Airways argues that the Italian government is trying to limit competition. "We believe we are acting legally under the E.U. law, and have complained to the E.U.," a British Airways spokesman, Steve D. Double, said on Monday. "It's for them to determine." The European Commission said that because the complaint dealt with flights outside Europe, it had little jurisdiction. British government officials said, however, that they believed that the issue should be handled by the European Commission. "We would like to point out that Alitalia is doing exactly the same thing," a spokesman for the Department of Transport, David Stewart, said in London. Alitalia's fares from Heathrow to Dubai, which stop in Rome, are cheaper than British Airways' direct fares, Mr. Stewart said. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/10/business/worldbusiness/10brit.html?ex=1093142981&ei=1&en=c415fbc514bc357f --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: http://homedelivery.nytimes.com/HDS/SubscriptionT1.do?mode=SubscriptionT1&ExternalMediaCode=W24AF HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@xxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company