The British Airways parent has to accept another billion loss in the first quarter. At just under 1,1 billion euros, the minus was around 37 percent lower than at the beginning of the pandemic a year earlier.

In the first three months of the year, the group airlines carried only 2,6 million passengers, 87 percent less than a year earlier, as the International Airlines Group announced on Friday. For the current year, CEO Luis Gallego is therefore planning with great caution: Compared to the pre-crisis year 2019, the IAG companies British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus and Level should only offer around a quarter of their flight capacity in the current second quarter.

Like other airline bosses, Gallego is counting on the success of the vaccination campaigns, on international rules for corona tests for passengers and the opening of travel corridors between countries such as Great Britain and the USA. Due to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and the persistence of travel restrictions, the manager still does not dare to forecast earnings for 2021.