British Airways parent dives into huge quarterly loss

British Airways owner IAG said Thursday it plunged into the red in the first quarter as the coronavirus pandemic grounded planes, adding that pre-crisis passenger demand would not return until 2023.

The company suffered a huge net loss of 1.68 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in the three months to the end of March, when the global aviation sector began to be ravaged by the deadly COVID-19 outbreak.

That contrasted with profit after tax of 70 million euros in the first quarter of 2019, IAG said in a statement. News of the sharp loss comes one week after IAG outlined plans to axe up to 12,000 BA staff, as it struggles to cope with evaporating demand for air travel. IAG on Thursday added that group revenue slid 13 percent to 4.6 billion euros in the first quarter.