IAG warns air traffic won't return to normal before 2023 "at the earliest"

Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-08 21:35:13|Editor: huaxia

LONDON, May 8 (Xinhua) -- The International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), one of the world's largest airline groups, has warned that passenger demand won't recover to the level of 2019 before 2023 "at the earliest", as the industry suffers from the sting of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Loss after tax rose to 1.68 billion euros (1.73 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter as passenger capacity was reduced by 94 percent from late March with most aircraft grounded, said the IAG, owner of the British Airways, Ireland's national airline Aer Lingus and Spain's largest airline Iberia as well as low-cost airlines Vueling and LEVEL.

"March's performance was severely affected by government travel restrictions due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 which significantly impacted demand. Most of the loss in the quarter occurred in the last two weeks of March," said IAG Chief Executive Officer Willie Walsh.

The group expected its second quarter to be significantly worse than the first quarter, saying that it would defer deliveries of 68 aircraft.

"We are planning for a meaningful return to service in July 2020 at the earliest, depending on the easing of lockdowns and travel restrictions around the world," Walsh said.

"However, we do not expect passenger demand to recover to the level of 2019 before 2023 at the earliest. This means group-wide restructuring is essential in order to get through the crisis and preserve an adequate level of liquidity," Walsh said.

Last week, the group said a proposed restructuring and redundancy program for the British Airways may result in the redundancy of up to 12,000. Enditem

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