Terrorism alert shutdown costs BA big

During the week that law enforcement apprehended suspected terrorists in the United Kingdom, British Airways lost an estimated 40 million pounds (US$76 million) in cancelled flights, catering costs and baggage return.

The Associated Press reports that the arrests that crippled the country’s airports resulted in 1,280 flight cancellations, in a new regime that continues to ripple across the airline world.

The setback occurred a week after British Airways announced profits of 150 million pounds (US$282 million) for the first quarter of its fiscal year. The carrier reports that bookings were back to levels of last year, but lag behind the upward trend that it had been experiencing.