British Airways has revealed it is axing more flights because of coronavirus travel restrictions and quarantine rules.
Parent company IAG expects to operate 60 per cent less capacity between October and December compared to the same period last year. It has previously stated that a 40 per cent reduction was likely.
It continues to expect it will take until at least 2023 for passenger demand to recover to 2019 levels.
The airline saw an “almost complete cessation of new booking activity” in April and May due to the pandemic, while the easing of country lockdowns sparked an increase in ticket sales in June.
Since July there has been an “overall levelling off of bookings”, IAG said
Demand for short-haul travel has “fallen slightly” following the UK and other European countries reimposing quarantine requirements for travellers returning from specific countries such as Spain and France.
In July, IAG announced it planned to raise £2.5 billion through selling new shares.
Last week, the UK Government announced that England would start applying a regional approach to its quarantine policy for international arrivals.
It will only apply to land that has a “clear boundary”, such as an island, and “internationally comparable data” on coronavirus cases.
