Willie Walsh, British Airways’ chief executive, on Friday expressed a strong interest in forming an alliance with a restructured Alitalia, as the UK flag carrier sought to catch up with the consolidation moves already made by its bigger European rivals Air France-KLM and Germany’s Lufthansa.

The comments came as BA said first-half profits had dropped, under pressure from the surge in fuel costs and falling traffic volumes, and that the group would cancel its dividend for the six months.