The IAG subsidiary British Airways has a problem: Too many staff were cut during the corona pandemic and now there are too few employees available, especially on short and medium-haul routes. Now the largest carrier in the United Kingdom has to pull the ripcord and cut the offer by about ten percent.

In the course of the presentation of the latest financial figures, company boss Sean Doyle admitted that the flight schedule on short and medium-haul routes will be cut due to staff shortages. He is currently assuming that around ten percent of the offer will be lost. About 8.000 circulations are affected.

As a result, around 80 percent of the pre-crisis performance will be achieved. The original plan was 85 percent. Nevertheless, Doyle is confident and hopes that the IAG Group will again reach 2022 percent group-wide by the fourth quarter of 90. Around 6.000 employees are to be hired this year.

Luis Gallego, General Director of IAG, sees the problems not so much with the flying staff, but primarily with the ground staff. There would be an acute shortage here throughout Europe. At the same time, the quarantine measures that are still in place in many countries would exacerbate the situation. For relief at British Airways, the new crew base in Madrid care for. Also one has two Boeing 757-200 from Titan Airways as well four Airbus A321-200 from Finnair brought in as reinforcement under wet lease contracts.