The owner of British Airways, International Aviation GroupAfter reporting a loss of 2 billion euros in the first half of 2021, the company announced plans to gradually return more aircraft to the sky.
The International Aviation Group (IAG) stated that it hopes to increase passenger traffic during the critical summer to about 45% of the pre-pandemic capacity of 2019, compared to only 20% in the first six months of this year, and hopes its lucrative transatlantic route, the United Kingdom and the United States. May fully reopen in September.
However, the airline group stated that its plans are “still uncertain and subject to continuous review”. BA flights will remain at about 30% of normal capacity, with most of the recovery coming from its Spanish sister airlines Iberia and Vueling.
The government’s restrictions on travel hindered IAG’s financial performance. Although most Covid lock-in rules were relaxed, the second quarter’s financial performance hardly improved compared to the first three months of this year. IAG stated that for its largest airline, BA, “the restrictive nature of the green list severely limits the expected capacity recovery after the lockdown is lifted.”
Iberia and Vueling are the best performing airlines in this group, and their routes from Spain and Latin America are relatively less restricted.
IAG CEO Luis Gallego stated that the UK government allows Amber countries in the European Union and the United States It is an “important first step” to reopen transatlantic flights.
“We are reaching the light at the end of the tunnel. In the short term, our focus is to ensure that our operations are ready, so we can flexibly take advantage of an environment where there is evidence that demand is generally suppressed after travel restrictions are lifted.
“We know that the recovery will be uneven, but we are ready to take advantage of the surge in air travel demand as vaccination rates increase.”
BA CEO Sean Doyle (Sean Doyle) said that after the announcement, bookings from the United States doubled compared to the previous week.
Gallego said that if the restrictions are further lifted, the group will prepare to invest up to 75% of its production capacity before the new crown epidemic before the fall.
Gallego and Doyle said that the business travel market is showing encouraging signs of growth, and airlines are under greater pressure in the pandemic as multinational executives attend Zoom conferences and webinars instead of flying to conferences. Gallego said that IAG expects that by 2023, business travel will still be reduced by 10-15% compared to 2019, adding: “We have seen in Spain that their business capacity has reached 30%…Business traffic is recovering.”
Doyle said: “Compared with leisure transportation, we expect the recovery to lag behind.” However, he said that in the US domestic aviation market, “business travel is recovering earlier. We are encouraged by the rebound.”
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IAG recorded a pre-tax loss of 2.3 billion euros (1.7 billion pounds) in the first half of 2021. It said it would not guide full-year profits in light of the pandemic and continued uncertainty in government travel restrictions.
Previously, the airline’s budget rivals Ryanair, EasyJet and Wizz Air made plans earlier this week Increase capacity closer to pre-Covid levels In the case of a sharp increase in holiday bookings.
These three companies, especially Wizz, have large-scale operations in Europe outside of the UK, where operating conditions are currently less restrictive.EasyJet is expected to return 60% of pre-Covid levels During the summer vacation, Wizz is expected to become the first major airline August restores pre-pandemic capacity.
Doyle said the heavily modified traffic light system and quarantine requirements left the UK “two months behind” EuropeAnd added that he hopes that other announcements about the relaxation of the testing system may follow: “This is inconsistent with other markets.”
