British Airways plans to tackle its £1bn ($1.4bn) pensions black hole by paying an additional £500m into the scheme providing staff agree to push the retirement age out to 65 within the next five years. The carrier has one of the largest pension deficits of any of the UK's top companies.

The airline said it will have paid £350m towards the pensions' deficit by the end of the year, and will pay a further £500m once planned changes were accepted, which would "virtually wipe out" the deficit.