The owner of British Airways has removed thousands of round-trip flights from its upcoming schedules and will cut frequencies on dozens of short-haul routes as it aims to make a profit following the pandemic, it has been reported. IAG - International Consolidated Airlines Group - says it will fly at 80 per cent of its pre-Covid capacity this year, having previously forecast a figure of 85 per cent.
IAG runs BA, Spanish carriers Iberia and Vueling, and Irish airline Aer Lingus. Luis Gallego, the company's chief executive, has said cutting back on flights will allow the group to return to profit this spring and for the rest of this year, The Times reports.
And BA chief executive Sean Doyle said the airline had cut the equivalent of 8,000 round trips, three-quarters of which were on short-haul routes. This amounts to 10 per cent of BA's flight schedules between March and October, according to the Financial Times.
Over the past two years IAG has made losses of €11 billion, with a loss of €731 million in the first three months of this year. Its debts are understood to stand at €11.6 billion, up from €6.4 billion a year before the pandemic.
Staff shortages, coupled with sickness, have hampered BA's performance following the easing of travel restrictions, leading to the cancellation of thousands of flights. It needs to recruit 6,000 workers having made thousands redundant when the covid-19 outbreak was at its worst.
Mr Gallego said the company’s losses in the first three months of the year reflect “normal seasonality, the impact of Omicron and costs associated with ramping up operations”. Demand is “recovering strongly” and the firm expects to return to profitability during the period from April to June onwards and in 2022 as a whole, he said.
Premium leisure travel is the “strongest performing segment”, Mr Gallego said, while business travel is at its highest level since the start of the pandemic. Sean Doyle, BA's chief executive, said: “We are acutely aware of the issues and are addressing all the pain points.”
Mr Gallego added: “Globally the travel industry is facing challenges as a result of the biggest scaling up in operations in history, and British Airways is no exception. The welcome removal of UK’s stringent travel restrictions, combined with strong pent-up demand, have contributed to a steep ramp up in capacity.”
