British Airways 'promises not to sell Qantas stake'

The Qantas chief executive says British Airways has promised not to sell its 22% stake in the Australian flag carrier.

Speculation about a possible sellout surfaced in December.

Geoff Dixon said that BA say they don't want to get out and Qantas take them on their word.

He said he welcomed British Airways as a stockholder, but if it wanted to sell out, Qantas would assist them in offloading the stock.

"We have said to them, 'if you do want to get out, please talk to us about it because we would like to at least take part so we can do it in an orderly fashion'," he said.

It was reported last year that British Airways could reap €653.7m from a sale.

The sale was reportedly being considered as part of plans to reorganise the airline giant, which could also see British Airways drop loss-making European routes and scale back operations at London's Gatwick airport.

Like other major international carriers, British Airways, has been hit by the fallout from the global economic slowdown, the U.S. terrorist attacks and growing popularity of discount competitors.

Last week, Qantas announced a half year profit result of 153.5 million Australian dollars (€90m) to the year ended Dec. 31, 2001, a 42% drop from the previous year.

Dixon said the international market is showing signs of recovery since Sept. 11.