BA offering 'measured response' to BSP changes

“If we do change it or support a recommendation to change it in a moderated manner we would then review the impact of that and if there was still loads of defaults in a certain segment then we would look to address that in a different way,” Crawley said.

“But we try to be a voice of reason in this – protecting our business but also protecting the businesses of the distribution [network].”

Earlier this year Iata terminated the licence of AirFastTickets in the UK and in Germany with the firm owing €45 million. The company’s UK office went into administration in October.

Meanwhile, BA could also look to enter into further joint businesses in the future as it looks for more cost-effective ways to extend its global reach.

The carrier, which is part of International Airlines Group, already has agreements in place with American Airlines, Iberia and Finnair as part of a transatlantic joint venture but Crawley has said that additional partnerships are a possibility.

“The other thing that we shouldn’t lose sight of is our joint business with American Airlines and I predict there will be other joint businesses, I don’t know where and I don’t know when but they work well those joint businesses.

“[It] has enabled us to start flying from Edinburgh across the Atlantic with American Airlines and also [from] Birmingham.

“So what you’ll see is … a greater commitment, not just from BA but from our joint business partners as well. It is more efficient for our partner American to fly from one of their hubs into Scotland then it is for us to set up a small tiny hub up there which would not be economically efficient for us.”