British Airways (BAIRY) announced this morning that it is cutting flights (what airline isn't?) and that its profit dropped 90% to $54 million (at least they had a profit!).

However, the real news is BA chief Willie Walsh's further apocalyptic rhetoric about the airline industry:

We are in the worst trading environment the industry has ever faced. The combination of unprecedented oil prices, economic slowdown and weaker consumer confidence has led to substantially lower first-quarter profits.

It was only a little over 2 months ago that Walsh warned of this outcome (and more airline bankruptcies):

This is about whether airlines can survive. If you look at a lot of the low-cost carriers around Europe, a lot of them have not been able to make money when oil was $80 per barrel.

See Also:

Cheap Flights Gone Forever--And So Are Many Airlines (British Airways Chief) (DAL, CAL, UAUA, AMR, LCC)