British Airways hopes soar as Atlantic flights take off
THE owner of British Airways is banking on booming demand for transatlantic flights after warning that it faces a £2.6billion annual loss.
International Airlines Group, which also runs Aer Lingus and Spanish carriers Iberia and Vueling, is looking forward to fully Covid-vaccinated UK travellers being allowed into the US from Monday.
IAG is more dependent on travel between Britain and America than its competitors and so has been hit harder by the 19 months of North Atlantic travel shutdown during the pandemic.
Luis Gallego, IAG chief executive, said: “The full reopening of the transatlantic travel corridor from Monday is a pivotal moment for our industry.
“British Airways is serving more US destinations than any transatlantic carrier and we’re delighted that we can get our customers flying again.”
His comments came as IAG laid bare the ongoing impact of the crisis.
Despite welcoming a “significant recovery”, passenger numbers remain well down on pre-pandemic levels.
In the three months to the end of September, passenger capacity was 43.4 per cent of 2019 levels, although up from 21.9 per cent in the three months to the end of June.
For the final three months of the year, it expects to fly around 60 per cent of its 2019 schedules.
IAG’s operating losses in the nine months to the end of September totalled £2.1billion, albeit down from £5.1billion in the same period a year ago.
Annual losses are forecast to be around £2.57billion.
The group is hoping it can return to profitability by around the middle of next year.
But the group’s debts stand at more than £10billion.
Russ Mould, investment director at City firm AJ Bell, said it was not a confident statement. He added: “IAG is still stuck on the runway based on its latest trading update as it looks to follow a flight path to recovery.
“It did report a sharp narrowing in third-quarter losses but IAG is not yet able to point to a return to profitability in 2022 with any degree of confidence.”