British Airways owner: Air travel demand unlikely to fully recover before 2023

British Airways owner IAG says demand for air travel is unlikely to fully recover before 2023.

International Airlines Group, which also owns Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling, said its total operating loss in the three months to the end of September was €1.9bn (£1.7bn) including exceptional items such as fuel hedging and restructuring costs.

For the first nine months of the year, the group had a €5.6bn (£5.1bn) loss after tax and exceptional items, compared to a profit of €1.8bn (£1.6bn) at the same time last year.

Luis Gallego, who took over as IAG’s chief executive officer in September, said the results “demonstrate the negative impact of COVID-19” but he also blamed “constantly-changing government restrictions”.

Mr Gallego said restrictions such as quarantine for travellers arriving in the UK from certain countries “create uncertainty for customers and make it harder to plan our business effectively”.Advertisement

He joined others, such as Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye, to call for governments to introduce pre-departure and possibly post-flight testing to lessen the need for quarantine.