BA is set to slash business class

The news came as the airline admitted it is looking to tap the City for new funds, likely to be hundreds of millions of pounds, as it further conceded its pension-scheme deficits are running out of control.Chief executive Willie Walsh, who has continually told staff and shareholders that the flag carrier is in a “fight for survival”, admitted today at the company’s annual meeting in London that the aviation industry recession is likely to last until 2012, and that many of its lost business-class passengers will never return.At a briefing after the meeting, Walsh said the airline, which has been losing more than £3 million a day, is implementing plans to cut one in four business-class seats on some its long-haul services, traditionally the cash cow of the airline.