British Airways boss Rod Eddington has given an ‘unexpectedly gloomy’ speech to City business analysts, telling them that ‘real recovery is still some way off’.
According to a report in The Guardian, the speech was responsible for a massive sell-off of shares in the company, leading to a drop in price of some 5% and reducing the company’s value by some £100 million within hours.
The Guardian reports that Eddington told the audience at UBS Warburg’s transport conference: “Much has been said in the last few weeks about how things are getting better. Those outside the industry might even believe that times are good. I do not share that view.
“We need a sustained period of uneventful air travel and economic recovery before we talk of really turning the corner. Yields continue to be weak in spite of little capacity growth and demand is very sensitive to price, falling away quickly when we try to raise fares.”
The newspaper reports that yesterday’s fall in BA’s share price – down 10p to 190.25p – was the biggest of all companies in the FTSE 250 index.
