IAG, the owner of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling is predicting that it will be 2023 before passenger traffic levels return to that of 2019.

In its quarterly presentation this morning, IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh said “We do not expect passenger demand to recover to the level of 2019 before 2023 at the earliest. This means group-wide restructuring is essential in order to get through the crisis and preserve an adequate level of liquidity. We intend to come out of the crisis as a stronger group.”

British Airways has already announced the potential loss of 12,000 jobs almost one third of its workforce.

British Airways plans up to 12,000 redundancies