British Airways owner IAG says demand for air travel is unlikely to fully recover before 2023.
International Airlines Group, which also owns Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling, said its total operating loss in the three months to the end of September was €1.9bn (£1.7bn) - including exceptional items such as fuel hedging and restructuring costs.
For the first nine months of the year, the group had a €5.6bn (£5.1bn) loss after tax and exceptional items, compared to a profit of €1.8bn (£1.6bn) at the same time last year.
Luis Gallego, who took over as IAG's chief executive officer in September, said the results "demonstrate the negative impact of COVID-19", but he also blamed "constantly-changing government restrictions".
Mr Gallego said restrictions, such as quarantine for travellers arriving in the UK from certain countries, "create uncertainty for customers and make it harder to plan our business effectively".
He joined others, such as Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye, to call for governments to introduce pre-departure and possibly post-flight testing to lessen the need for quarantine.
"This would open routes, stimulate economies and get people travelling with confidence," he added.
"When we open routes, there is pent-up demand for travel.
"However, we continue to expect that it will take until at least 2023 for passenger demand to recover to 2019 levels."
IAG said there were "no immediate signs of recovery" from the pandemic, adding that it expects capacity in the fourth quarter to be no more than 30% of what it was at the same time last year.
The group said it has cut cash operating costs by 54% and Mr Gallego said "significant progress" had been made on restructuring. Staff numbers have been cut by 10,000, with most of the jobs being lost at BA.
Aviation analyst Sally Gethin said IAG retains access to "incredible amounts of cash or liquidity" that would help it weather the coronavirus pandemic.
She told Sky News: "If we look at how much it has haemorrhaged already this year, that shows how they can survive for a couple more years going forward, which sounds incredible.
"It's the large network carriers...they've all got greater access to cash. They are being bailed out by governments, some of them are being nationalised, so they have this advantage going forward.
"But it's the low-cost carriers we rely on here in Europe - some of them are having a much harder time. It depends on their efficiencies, how aggressively and quickly they can adapt to this fast-changing market."
Ms Gethin said the average airline could survive 8.5 months on cash reserves, but "erratic" travel restrictions and a lack of COVID testing in the industry were among the challenges.
"We're seeing quite a number of casualties," she added. "There were about 20 airline failures since this pandemic hit and about half of those are in administration - in others words, finding ways to survive.
"We're bound to see more of these as time goes on and we're on the back foot with the pandemic."
When asked if governments should focus state aid on smaller carriers, she said: "Not all of them expect or want to go for state aid, which often comes with strings attached.
"Low cost carriers in part are used to operating on thin margins anyway. Some would like that support but others not always. What a lot of them want to see is state aid as a solution to be reduced as a whole across the sector to create a more level playing field."
Overnight two other airline groups presented financial results - Japan Airlines and Air France-KLM.
Japan Airlines said it expects a record operating loss of up to 380 billion yen (£2.81bn) in the year to the end of March, with demand expected to be at less than 50% by then, due to the pandemic.
Air France-KLM revealed a €1.05bn (£950m) quarterly operating loss and a 67% drop in third-quarter revenue to €2.52bn (£2.3bn).
Shares in IAG were up 2.3% in early Friday trading. Over in Paris, Air France-KLM was down 2.7% and in Tokyo, Japan Airlines shares were down 3.7%.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicWh0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2JyaXRpc2gtYWlyd2F5cy1vd25lci1haXItdHJhdmVsLWRlbWFuZC11bmxpa2VseS10by1mdWxseS1yZWNvdmVyLWJlZm9yZS0yMDIzLTEyMTE4NDYw0gF1aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLnNreS5jb20vc3RvcnkvYW1wL2JyaXRpc2gtYWlyd2F5cy1vd25lci1haXItdHJhdmVsLWRlbWFuZC11bmxpa2VseS10by1mdWxseS1yZWNvdmVyLWJlZm9yZS0yMDIzLTEyMTE4NDYw?oc=5
2020-10-30 15:33:45Z
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