British Airways news flash *

With owner International Airlines Group (IAG) announcing negative results last week British Airways (BA) will today (Monday 8 November) celebrate the literal reopening of the US borders and says bookings over the last week have reached unprecedented levels. By the end of the year the airline will be again flying from Heathrow to 23 US cities many with frequent flights.  But no word on Gatwick.

Luis Gallego, IAG's CEO, spoke of a “significant recovery underway,” and said the reopening of crucial transatlantic air routes were “a pivotal moment for our industry.”  IAG includes Aer Lingus, BA, Iberia and Vueling.

For the third quarter of the year IAG reported operating losses of €452m and expects the total to become around €3bn for 2021 after €7.42bn in 2020.

Passenger numbers are still down on 2020, for which January and February were good. In the past summer quarter, IAG-owned airlines carried 15m passengers bringing the total to 23.5m for the first nine months of 2021, compared with 27m in the first three-quarters of 2020.

Gallego summed up: “There’s a significant recovery underway. The full reopening of the transatlantic travel corridor from Monday (today) is a pivotal moment for our industry. Long-haul traffic has been a significant driver of revenue, with bookings recovering faster than short-haul as we head into the winter. Premium leisure is performing strongly at both Iberia and British Airways and there are early signs of a recovery in business travel.”

www.iairgroup.com

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Jim James, Crawley

I for one am disappointed with BA having amassed points and either having to drive to Heathrow and park or use a taxi for easyJet. What a farce IAG is! Looking at the accounts I see it is now based in Madrid.