The owner of BA has outlined cautious plans to return more of its planes to the skies after a difficult first half of the year in which losses spiralled to E2b. IAG is heavily exposed to UK and transatlantic travel, leaving its recovery lagging behind many of its main competitors in Europe. IAG plans to fly 45% of its normal flight schedule in Q3, up from 20% in the first six months of the year. Its plans are more cautious than short-haul rivals, such as easyJet and Ryanair, and reflect IAG’s reliance on parts of the industry that are taking longest to recover, such as the corporate and the long-haul market. While IAG’s two Spanish airlines will fly about 70% of their normal capacity, BA and Aer Lingus will operate just over 30%, underlining how the market in Europe is recovering more quickly than in Britain. IAG’s plans also contrast with fellow flag carrier Air France-KLM, which also reported results on Friday and said it planned to fly up to 70% of normal capacity this summer. Air France-KLM expects to return to profit in the next three months, and welcomed a recovery in passenger demand as the EU eased travel restrictions more quickly than the UK. Sean Doyle, BA’s CE, said BA’s recovery was running two months behind its European competitors. “There is demand out there,” he said. The airline was pivoting from corporate travel to try to attract high-paying leisure customers and had fewer premium seats following the retirement of old planes including its 747s, said Doyle. “We are adjusting our business model to anticipate what will be a lagging recovery in business,” he added. Luis Gallego, IAG’s CE, welcomed the UK’s decision to exempt fully vaccinated passengers from the US and EU from quarantine. “We see this as an important first step in fully reopening the transatlantic travel corridor,” he said. “We know that recovery will be uneven, but we’re ready to take advantage of a surge in air travel demand in line with increasing vaccination rates.”<br/>
oneworld
Fiji Airways is returning a pair of Airbus A330-300s as it works to reduce fixed costs amid the continued impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The two aircraft still have a few months left to run on their leases, says the airline. The two aircraft joined the carrier in May and July 2018 on what the airline calls “short-term” leases. “The two aircraft were added to the fleet in 2018 to boost the capacity in the short-term, allowing for increase in frequency and launch of new routes like Tokyo (Narita),” says carrier CE Andre Viljoen. “The aircraft were invaluable to helping Fiji Airways recover schedules following disruptions caused by the global grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.” Both A330s have been grounded since March 2020. “Since the beginning of the pandemic, we worked hard with the lessors of these aircraft to allow for an early return by a few months,” adds Viljoen. “This was only possible because these two A330s were short-term and nearing end of lease. Still, we’ll take every little win in our efforts to reduce fixed costs as we tide through this pandemic.”<br/>