British Airways owner expects earnings to have been hit by weaker demand due to coronavirus

The airline group said it has seen lower demand on Asian and European routes as well as weaker business travel across its network due to the cancellation of industry events and corporate travel restrictions.

The update came as IAG reported that operating profits for 2019 fell by 33.6% to £2.6 billion.

Willie Walsh, IAG chief executive, said: “These are good results in a year affected by disruption and higher fuel prices.

“We demonstrated our robust and flexible model once again through additional cost control and by reducing capacity growth to reflect market conditions.

“We’ve increased investment in new aircraft, customer products and operational resilience and this has seen our airlines improve their customer performance scores this year.”