Come fly with me. Please! Nowhere near enough passengers are flying with British Airways, and chief executive Willie Walsh is fighting for the airline’s survival: its half-year loss before tax of £292m is almost three-quarters what it lost in the year to March. BA responded quickly to the financial crisis and recession that grounded business and economy passengers – unit costs have fallen 5.2 per cent since March – but not nearly fast enough. And while benign fuel prices have provided a tailwind, headwinds abound.

BA’s problem was that it did not slash costs when trading conditions recovered post-9/11 and took boom-time investment banker passengers for granted. Now Mr Walsh has to impose “structural change” to secure profitability.