1 Authorisation of financial statements and compliance with IFRSs
The Group’s and Company's financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2014 were authorised for issue by the Board of Directors on 26 February 2015 and the balance sheets were signed on the Board's behalf by Keith Williams and Nick Swift. British Airways Plc is a public limited company incorporated and domiciled in England and Wales.
The Group and Company has prepared its consolidated financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (‘IFRSs’) as adopted by the EU. IFRSs as adopted by the EU differ in certain respects from IFRSs as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (‘IASB’). References to 'IFRS' hereafter should be construed as references to IFRSs as adopted by the EU. The principal accounting policies adopted by the Group and by the Company are set out in note 2.
The Company has taken advantage of the exemption provided under Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 not to publish its individual income statement and related notes.
2 Summary of significant accounting policies
Basis of preparation
The basis of preparation and accounting policies set out in this Report and Accounts have been prepared in accordance with the recognition and measurement criteria of IFRSs, which also include International Accounting Standards (‘IASs’), as issued by the IASB and with those of the Standing Interpretations issued by the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (‘IFRIC’) of the IASB.
These financial statements have been prepared on a historical cost convention except for certain financial assets and liabilities, including derivative financial instruments and available-for-sale financial assets, that are measured at fair value.
The Group’s and Company’s financial statements are presented in pounds sterling and all values are rounded to the nearest million pounds (£ million), except where indicated otherwise.
Basis of consolidation
The Group accounts include the accounts of the Company and its subsidiaries, each made up to 31 December, together with the attributable share of results and reserves of associates, adjusted where appropriate to conform with the Group’s accounting policies.
Subsidiaries are all entities (including structured entities) controlled by the Group. The Group controls an entity when the Group is exposed to, or has rights to, variable returns from its involvement with the entity and has the ability to affect those returns through its power over the entity. Subsidiaries are fully consolidated from the date on which control is transferred to the Group. They are deconsolidated from the date that control ceases.
All intra-group account balances, including intra-group profits, have been eliminated in preparing the consolidated financial statements. Non-controlling interests represent the portion of profit or loss and net assets in subsidiaries that are not held by the Group and are presented separately within equity in the consolidated balance sheet.
The Directors have considered the Group’s business activities, principal risks and uncertainties (as set out on pages 8 to 9), and the Group’s financial position, including cash flows, liquidity position and available committed facilities. The Directors consider that the Group has adequate resources to remain in operation for the foreseeable future and have therefore continued to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.
Revenue
Passenger and cargo revenue is recognised when the transportation service is provided. Passenger tickets net of discounts are recorded as current liabilities as deferred revenue on ticket sales until the customer has flown. Unused tickets are recognised as revenue using estimates regarding the timing of recognition based on the terms and conditions of the ticket and statistical analysis of historical trends.
Other revenue including maintenance; handling; hotel and holiday and commissions is recognised at the time the service is provided in accordance with the invoice or contract.
Revenue recognition – customer loyalty programmes
The Group operates two principal loyalty programmes; Executive Club and Avios. The principal customer loyalty programmes award travellers Avios points to redeem for various rewards primarily redemption travel, including flights, hotels and car hire. In accordance with IFRIC 13 ‘Customer loyalty programmes’, the fair value attributed to the awarded Avios points is deferred as a liability and recognised as revenue on redemption of the points and provision of service to the participants to whom the Avios points are issued.
In addition, Avios points are sold to commercial partners to use in loyalty activity. The fair value of the Avios points sold is deferred and recognised as revenue on redemption of the Avios points by the participants to whom the Avios points are issued. The cost of the redemption of the Avios points is recognised when the Avios points are redeemed.
The Group estimates the fair value of Avios points by reference to the fair value of the awards for which they could be redeemed and is reduced to take into account the proportion of award credits that are not expected to be redeemed based on the results of statistical modelling. The fair value of the Avios point reflects the fair value of the range of available awards.