International Airlines Group, IAG, presented on November 5 its consolidated results of the year 2021, up to 30 September. The results show that while Iberia, LEVEL and Vueling are back on the profit side -with different margins for each of them-, British Airways and Aer Lingus depend heavily on the reopening of UK-US travel to turn the tables once and for all.
There is good news for the group, as passenger capacity is slowly growing back to 2019 levels: In Q3 it has reached 43.4 percent of the last normal year for the industry, representing a 22 percent growth when compared to 2021 Q2. The group expects that Q4 will reach a 60 percent passenger capacity of 2019 levels, for a total 2021 capacity of 2019 final tally.
«Iberia and Vueling continued to be the best performers within the Group in the third quarter. Iberia returned to profitability while Vueling reached breakeven at the operating level. Both seized opportunities to strengthen their positions on routes to Latin America and the Spanish domestic market,» said Luis Gallego, IAG’s CEO.
“There’s a significant recovery underway and our teams across the Group are working hard to capture every opportunity. We continue to capitalize on surges in bookings when travel restrictions are lifted. All our airlines have shown improvements with the Group’s operating loss more than halved compared to previous quarters. In Q3, our operating cash flow was positive for the first time since the start of the pandemic and our liquidity is higher than ever, reaching €12.1 billion on a pro forma basis at the end of October,» he added.
Regarding the increased hopes of recovery after the US travel restrictions are lifted, the CEO said that “the full reopening of the transatlantic travel corridor from Monday is a pivotal moment for our industry. British Airways is serving more US destinations than any transatlantic carrier and we’re delighted that we can get our customers flying again.»
Gallego concluded by stating that «In the short term, we are focused on getting ready to operate as much capacity as we can and ensuring IAG is set up to return to profitability in 2022. Our teams are creating opportunities and implementing initiatives to transform our business and preparing it for the future so that we emerge more competitive. This includes initiatives such as our new short-haul operation at Gatwick, Vueling’s expansion at Paris-Orly, Aer Lingus’ services from Manchester to the US and the Caribbean and our new maintenance model in Barcelona.»
