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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: British Airways tail fins are pictured at Heathrow Airport in London, Britain, Could 17, 2021. REUTERS/John Sibley
By Sarah Younger
LONDON (Reuters) -British Airways proprietor IAG (LON:) is “very optimistic” concerning the reopening of transatlantic journey and planning to ramp up capability on these routes subsequent yr, fuelling restoration hopes regardless of warning of a giant loss in 2021.
IAG, which additionally owns Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling, is extra depending on journey between Britain and america than its opponents and so has been hit more durable by 19 months of North Atlantic journey shutdown throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief Government Luis Gallego mentioned on Friday the total reopening of that route on Monday was “pivotal,” and rising capability would assist return the group to revenue subsequent yr.
“We’re very optimistic and I feel we’re going to have 100% of the capability that we flew in 2019 subsequent summer season,” he mentioned, when requested about transatlantic routes.
“After we can function our flights, we’re going to come again quickly to a worthwhile scenario.”
Shares in IAG opened up 1.8%, earlier than slipping to commerce down 2.6%.
“A bullish information on capability restoration into 2022 is a very powerful factor right here,” Bernstein analyst Alex Irving mentioned.
However for 2021, IAG warned it was heading for a 3 billion euro ($3.5 billion) loss, damage by pandemic restrictions for a lot of the yr.
That steering was barely behind analysts’ consensus forecast for a lack of 2.87 billion euros, however higher than 2020’s 4.4 billion euro loss.
IAG’s larger publicity to Britain, the place journey restrictions have been saved stricter for longer in comparison with the remainder of Europe, and its decrease publicity to cargo than friends means it has up to now trailed European opponents in its restoration.
Air France-KLM has guided to barely optimistic earnings for 2021 and Germany’s Lufthansa eked out a small quarterly revenue for July-September.
Over the summer season, normally essentially the most worthwhile interval for airways, IAG posted an working loss earlier than distinctive objects of 485 million euros for July-September, beating analysts’ consensus forecast for a lack of 513 million euros.
($1 = 0.8651 euros)
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