BA-owner IAG said it was driving down its cost base, with new CEO Luis Gallego sticking to his predecessor’s policy of cutting employee and supplier costs to survive the deepening travel slump. The company also used its quarterly results statement to call on governments to adopt pre-departure Covid-19 testing to allow travel during a second wave of infections that is forcing governments to lock down Europe once again. IAG said that it had cut cash operating costs by 54% from original plans to E205m per week during the July-September period, a move that is key to airline survival during a winter with very low travel. “The group has made significant progress on restructuring and we continue to reduce our cost base,” Gallego said. He took over from Willie Walsh in September after the company secured shareholder backing for a E2.74b capital hike to boost its finances during the pandemic. The airline group was publishing further details on its Q3 after it announced a worse than expected quarterly loss of E1.3blast week. It said the total operating loss for the quarter was E1.9b including exceptional items relating to fuel hedges and restructuring costs at BA and Aer Lingus where staff numbers have been cut by 10,000, mostly at BA.<br/>
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Japan Airlines will take out a new credit line worth Y100b ($958m) in November, as the flag carrier seeks to strengthen its business portfolio in the face of financial turmoil from the novel coronavirus that could last for years. JAL, which expects a net loss of Y240b to Y270b for this fiscal year through March 2021, and its first net loss since its relisting in 2012, will take a number of cost-cutting steps, including reducing the size of its fleet and cutting executive pay, to rationalize its business for a period of much lower flight demand. "We have been able to stay on healthy financial ground for the moment," Hideki Kikuyama, a senior managing executive officer in charge of JAL's finances and accounting, said Friday. "We will have an unused commitment line amounting to Y300b," he added. The airline, which had over Y340b in cash and an unused credit line of Y200b as of September, will expand the latter by Y100b. Kikuyama said JAL's cash burn fell significantly in the July to September quarter, compared with the previous three months, when the airline had to deal with a wave of refund requests for bookings made before the COVID-19 pandemic. Story has more.<br/>