Fifteen of the UK’s biggest blue-chip companies are faced with pension-fund deficits of more than a tenth of their market values.

According to analysis of FTSE-100 companies carried out by The Times, British Airways’ faces a pension deficit equal to 115.5p per share, well over one third of its current share price.

But the analysis also reveals that, for many FTSE 100 companies, the pensions crisis is negligible or at least manageable.

For 51 companies, pension-fund deficits amount to less than 3% of their market values – equivalent to a single year’s dividend payments or less in most cases.