BA owner and easyJet warn of coronavirus impact

EasyJet and the owner of BA have reported significant drops in demand because of the coronavirus outbreak and announced emergency measures, including cancelling flights, changing the size of planes used on routes and freezing pay. In an unscheduled trading update, EasyJet said Friday it was cancelling hundreds of flights and imposing a pay freeze as part of a number of emergency cost-cutting measures. IAG warned it was suffering from weak passenger demand across both continents, including a drop in business travel around the world as companies impose travel restrictions and cancel big industry events. IAG warned its earnings outlook had been “adversely affected” and it could not issue profit guidance for 2020. IAG’s chief executive, Willie Walsh, said the situation had escalated rapidly: “Last Friday I know we would have been comfortable providing the markets with guidance – but given what has happened since, there is just too much volatility there.” Walsh said almost 40% of calls to IAG customer service centres were now coronavirus-related queries, peaking after a spike in coronavirus cases in Italy. <br/>