British Airways losses triple

BRITISH Airways, Europe’s biggest airline, said its fourth-quarter loss tripled as passenger traffic fell because of an economic slowdown, the war in Iraq and the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome.

The shares fell as much as 6.5% after chief executive Rod Eddington said first-quarter revenue will decline from a year earlier. “Our priority now is to get people back into the habit of flying,” he said.

British Airways is using fare discounts of as much as 60% to jump-start demand in the worst industry slump ever.