LONDON: British Airways owner IAG is not planning to raise billions of euros from shareholders to get the company through the extended COVID-19 crisis, its chief executive Luis Gallego told The Sunday Times. "We do not see the necessity to do a rights issue and are not considering it," Gallego told the newspaper https://bit.ly/3Cphn3L adding that the company was talking through "different options" with banks. The comments come after media speculation about the company's plans to shore up its finances.

In May, IAG announced plans to raise 825 million euros ($967 million) from a convertible bond to bolster its balance sheet. Last year, the group launched a 2.75 billion euros ($3.22 billion) capital raising. Gallego noted that the group had high debts but also had strong liquidity of 10.2 billion euros, Times reported.