The International Airline Group (IAG) results were bound to be disastrous and the quarterly figures, published last week, were in line with predictions.

IAG combines British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling and LEVEL.  These results do not give financial details of individual airlines.  This has to wait until the full year figures are published late February 2021.

There was a loss of £1.3bn between July and September compared with a £1.3bn profit during the same period last year.

Flight capacity was down 78.6% over the quarter, with passenger demand decreasing by 88.0%.

The average number of seats filled on flights was 48.9%, down 38.8 percentage points.

The group expects its flight capacity from October to December to be no more than 30% of last year.

Stephen Gunning, Chief Financial Officer with IAG, said: “Recent overall bookings have not developed as previously expected due to additional measures implemented by many European governments in response to a second wave of Covid-19 infections, including an increase in local lockdowns and extension of quarantine requirements to travellers from an increasing number of countries.

“At the same time, initiatives designed to replace quarantine periods and increase customer confidence to book and travel, such as pre-departure testing and air corridor arrangements, have not been adopted by governments as quickly as anticipated.”

www.iairgroup.com