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The owner of BA, International Airlines Group, reported a record E7.4b loss for last year, and called for the introduction of digital health passes for passengers to enable the airline industry to get back on its feet. IAG said that passenger capacity last year was only a third of 2019 and in the first quarter of this year is running at only a fifth of pre-Covid levels. The airline group reported a total annual operating loss of E7.4b, including expensive fuel and currency hedges, retiring its planes early and the costs of its 10,000 staff redundancies – a €10bn swing in a year from its E2.6b profit in 2019. “Our results reflect the serious impact that Covid-19 has had on our business,” said Luis Gallego, the chief executive of IAG. “The group continues to reduce its cost base and increase the proportion of variable costs to better match market demand. We’re transforming our business to ensure we emerge in a stronger competitive position.” IAG’s passenger revenues plunged by 75% from E22.4b to E5.5b last year but it said its cargo business had “helped to make long-haul passenger flights viable” during the pandemic. Cargo revenues increased by almost E200m to E1.3b and IAG also operated more than 4,000 cargo-only flights during the year. The airline group said that because of the uncertainty over the impact of the pandemic on its business, it would not provide profit guidance for this year and called for an international plan to “reopen the skies”. BA has been conducting a trial for a VeriFLY digital health passport and is also in discussions with the International Air Transport Association on its Travel Pass, which it hopes to roll out worldwide after trials in Australia and New Zealand. Sean Doyle, the chief executive of BA, said: “We’re keen to work with the government to set a policy framework to verify whatever is required to travel – proof of vaccinations or a negative test. “With the momentum we see on bookings for the summer and the demand out there, this could be a very important part of opening up this summer.”<br/>

British Airways-owner IAG is counting on digital health passes to help spur a travel recovery this summer, after the pandemic pushed it to a record E7.4b loss last year, when it ran just a third of normal flights. European airlines hope travel restrictions will soon be eased to allow them to make money again. Britain on Monday laid out plans for travel markets to possibly reopen from mid-May, prompting a flood of bookings. IAG CE Luis Gallego said if the UK plans went ahead, it would be a “positive summer”, but digital health passes were needed to unlock the market. “Health passes are going to be the key to restart the aviation and the travel,” said Gallego, who is six months into the job, calling for a digital system that could include test results and proof of vaccination. Several countries are considering health passports to help revive travel, but are worried about risks to civil liberties. However, Britain’s Heathrow airport warned this week that dealing with a big rise in passengers would not be possible with current paper-based checks.<br/>

IAG CE Luis Gallego expects completion of the group’s planned acquisition of Spanish carrier Air Europe to be nearer to year-end, having set a second-half target to close the delayed deal. The Iberia and Vueling parent had originally struck an agreement in 2019 to acquire Air Europa before the coronavirus crisis hit the proposed purchase. A revised deal, under which the acquisition price was halved to E500m, was reached in January. But completion remains conditional on “satisfactory negotiations” between Iberia and Spanish state-owned holding company SEPI over non-financial terms related to a six-year E475m state-backed loan AIr Europa secured in November to navigate it through the crisis. Spanish media have previously reported it relates to SEPI’s right to board representation at Air Europa. Gallego said: ”Air Europa had support from the government and that support had a bad condition. So first of all we need to negotiate with the Spanish government these bad conditions because we need to have the freedom to manage the company. After that agreement we hope we can reach, we will need competition approval. All this process is expected by the second half of the year, I think its going to be more closer to the end of the year than the beginning of the second half.”<br/>

BA CE Sean Doyle believes the increased mix of premium-economy seating in its capacity is well timed to cater for the likely slower pick-up in business traffic during the pandemic recovery phase. The carrier has been undertaking a cabin reconfiguration which includes stepping up its new premium-economy and business-class offerings. Doyle said: ”We are increasing the number of seats that are available for sale in World Traveller Plus materially and I think that plays well for the development of the market over the next couple of years. We do anticipate corporate travel will lag other segments like VFR and leisure, and World Traveller Plus is a very strong leisure product. So I think things like the retirement of the 747 has actually accelerated the development of that product mix and I think it works very well with the trajectory of recovery we anticipate.”<br/>

The final lessor creditor under Malaysia Airlines’ scheme of arrangement has given consent to that scheme as well as the carrier’s wider restructuring after previously facing challenges getting approval from its financiers. Justice Richard Snowdon, a judge at the High Court of England and Wales, said in a judgement dated 23 February that he received evidence that one creditor which did not vote at a 10 February meeting has now “been able to resolve the communication difficulties with its financiers that prevented it from participating in the scheme process and has consented to the scheme”. Creditor turnout at that 10 February meeting was approximately 95.9% by value, with only one creditor (out of 44) failing to vote. That meeting was convened so that operating lessors could vote on the carrier’s restructuring plan. Finance lessors are in a separate creditor class – there are seven creditor classes overall – and did not participate in the 10 February vote. “Accordingly, there was overwhelming support for the scheme,” Snowdon said.<br/>

Australia’s treasurer said he’s considering measures to support firms like Qantas and others that are still struggling with fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, once the government’s JobKeeper wage subsidy expires late next month. “We are looking at other measures that we can put in place post-JobKeeper to support a range of industries including the aviation sector,” Josh Frydenberg said Sunday. The Australian carrier has received A$459m ($354m) under the wage support program. It says it has 7,500 people allocated to overseas flights who will still be grounded from the end of March, when the subsidy ends, through to the end of October, when the airline expects international borders will reopen. “There’s no doubt that the aviation industry’s been hit and hit hard and Qantas having a 75% reduction in their revenue is testament to that,” Frydenberg said. Frydenberg said the domestic market is set to improve as a Covid-19 vaccine is rolled out, confidence returns and state borders don’t close as frequently. The treasurer said that, in their most recent conversation, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told him that in January 1,500 flights into Queensland alone had been canceled. “That was 200,000 passengers that would’ve otherwise gone into Queensland. That would’ve been hundreds of millions of dollars spent on tourism so the fact that we will see I think less border closures, less frequent border closures, and the vaccine rollout will be good news for their business,” Frydenberg said. <br/>

Australia’s competition regulator proposed to re-authorise a joint venture between Qantas Airways Ltd and American Airlines Group Inc on Friday, extending it for another five years. The carriers had entered a Trans-Pacific joint business agreement in 2011 to coordinate services between the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had authorised the agreement in 2011 for five years and re-authorised it in 2016 until 2021. “Passengers travelling on Trans-Pacific routes could benefit through enhanced products and services, including a greater likelihood of increased capacity and new routes, increased connectivity and improved schedule choice,” ACCC commissioner Sarah Court said.<br/>

Qantas will be trialling two digital apps to check passengers’ medical history as the airline prepares to resume international travel. The company announced on Thursday that international travel might be back on the cards from October this year, pushing back its original “restart” date of July 2021. To make for a smooth transition into a COVIDSafe type of travel, the company has been testing out the IATA Travel Pass and CommonPass apps. Repatriated Australians flying home via Qantas will be the first to try out the apps. So far, Qantas has only been testing the travel apps on crew members. From next week, they’ll be rolling it out to Australians flying back home. The IATA and Commonpass apps provide passengers with a “COVID-19 health status” for airline staff to view.<br/>

An American Airlines flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Los Angeles was diverted to Phoenix after an in-flight passenger altercation, the company confirmed. Two passengers got into a fight with another passenger who asked them to stop using a racial slur, Phoenix police said. The Feb. 24 flight eventually continued to LAX. "Upon arrival, the flight was met by local law enforcement who removed and arrested two individuals for verbally and physically assaulting other customers and flight crew members," an American Airlines statement read. "Their behavior was disturbing and unacceptable." Phoenix Police Department arrested Kelly Pichardo, 30, and Leeza Rodriguez, 29, both from the Bronx, New York, multiple outlets reported. Both women were placed on an American Airlines' internal refuse list pending further investigation.<br/>