IAG: ‘strong business travel recovery’ in first quarter
INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES GROUP (IAG) has announced its results for the first quarter of 2022, showing an operating loss of €731 million (£625 million).
However this compares favourably to the loss of €1.08 billion (£924 million) recorded in the same period of 2021, and the group said that “strong customer demand is expected to drive profitability from quarter two onwards”.
Capacity for the quarter ending March 31 was up 58 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. IAG said that there had been “no noticeable impact from the war in Ukraine”. The group also noted a “strong business travel recovery” during the first quarter, although premium leisure continued to be the strongest performing segment.
Looking ahead IAG expects to return to profitability from the second quarter of this year, with full-year capacity forecast at 80 per cent of 2019 levels, and North Atlantic capacity expected to be close to 2019 levels by the third quarter of this year.
IAG’s CEO Luis Gallego acknowledged the challenges for member carrier British Airways of what he called “the biggest scaling up in operations in [the travel industry’s] history”.
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