International Airlines Group (IAG), owner of British Airways
and Iberia, has announced it will be cutting at least 75 per cent of its total
capacity for April and May in response to travel restrictions being put in
place around the globe.
Furthermore, current chief executive Willie Walsh, who was
due to step down at the end of March, will delay his retirement “for the next
few months” to continue leading the group through a “challenging time”. As
such, Luis Gallego will remain as Iberia CEO and Javier Sanchez will stay in
place at Vueling.
Walsh said: “We have seen a substantial decline in bookings
across our airlines and global network over the past few weeks and we expect
demand to remain weak until well into the summer. We are therefore making
significant reductions to our flying schedules. We will continue to monitor demand
levels and we have the flexibility to make further cuts if necessary. We are
also taking actions to reduce operating expenses and improve cash flow at each
of our airlines. IAG is resilient with a strong balance sheet and substantial
cash liquidity.”
The news comes after a leaked memo from BA chief executive
Alex Cruz said the airline was ‘fighting for survival’ amid the outbreak and
warned there could be job cuts on the horizon – a step already being taken by
Norwegian, which is making half of its staff temporarily redundant.
Meanwhile, Easyjet said it may have to take the drastic step
of grounding most of its aircraft as a result of several border closures coming
into effect across Europe.
Easyjet CEO Johan Lundgren has called on European governments
to introduce measures to support the aviation industry, which he said “faces a
precarious future”.
Shai Weiss, the boss of Virgin Atlantic, said he will be
writing to UK prime minister Boris Johnson requesting emergency financial
support to help airlines survive.
Elsewhere, American Airlines said it will also be reducing
international capacity by 75 per cent through 6 May, including almost all
services to Europe and Asia, in response to travel restrictions, and United
Airlines said it will be announcing a 50 per cent reduction in capacity for
April and May.
[Update 17 March] Russian airline Aeroflot has announced it will continue operating flights to Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Dublin, Geneva, Helsinki, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Sofia, Stockholm and Zagreb, but later this week it will be suspending routes to Barcelona, Belgrade, Chisinau, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Ljubljana, Munich, Oslo, Prague, Riga, Tallinn, Thessaloniki, Vienna, Vilnius, Warsaw and Zurich, among others.
Between 29 March and 24 April, ANA is reducing its London route to four flights a week, Paris to three, Frankfurt to a single-daily frequency, Munich to four flights per week, Dusseldorf to three, Brussels to three and Vienna to four. The launch of flights to Milan has been delayed until at least 16 May, but ANA said it will announce a new launch date in due course.