London (awp / afp) – British airline group IAG, parent company of British Airways and Iberia, returned to profit in the second quarter for the first time since the abysmal losses of the pandemic, driven by the recovery in demand.
The group posted a net profit of 133 million euros (129 million Swiss francs) for the three months ended at the end of June, against a loss of 981 million last year when air traffic was still largely suffering from travel restrictions. He divided his net loss by three, to 654 million euros in the first half.
“In the second quarter, we returned to profits for the first time since the start of the pandemic, thanks to a strong recovery in demand on all our airlines,” said Luis Gallego, group chief executive, in a press release. also parent company of Vueling or Aer Lingus.
The airline industry has been one of the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic which crippled global traffic for months, but demand is picking up strongly and IAG expects overall operating profit to be green. of the year.
This provided “that no other setback linked to Covid-19 and health restrictions” or any “impact linked to the geopolitical context” does not disrupt operations, warns the group in its press release.
IAG says it ran in the second quarter at 78% of its 2019 capacity, up sharply from the previous three months (65%).
Airlines Iberia and Vueling performed best in the group, driven by the Spanish domestic market and routes to Latin America, where demand last month exceeded 2019 levels.
But British Airways, which had massively laid off during the pandemic, is struggling to recruit fast enough to keep up with the resumption of traffic and the company has had to greatly reduce its operations in recent months, canceling thousands of flights until the end of October.
“Our sector continues to face historic challenges due to the unprecedented scaling up of operations, particularly in the UK where operational challenges at Heathrow Airport have been acute,” acknowledged Mr. Gallego, adding that the company is working to improve the situation.
IAG, which is also modernizing its aging fleet through the purchase of more modern and more fuel-efficient planes, has ordered 59 A320neo family planes from Airbus and 50 Boeing 737s since the beginning of the year.
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