British Airways warned on Monday it expected to fall into loss in the current financial year as it came under increasing pressure from the sharp fall in premium passenger and cargo volumes as well as from the weakness of sterling.

BA said it expected at current exchange rates to suffer an operating loss of about £150m in the year to the end of March, a fall of more than £1bn from the record operating profit of £875m last year, when it achieved a 10 per cent profit margin for the first time in its history.