Airlines have become prone to calamity, the August bank holiday air traffic control chaos being the latest example. Shareholders in International Consolidated Airlines Group have needed particular patience, since the grounding of flights during the pandemic gave way to a collapse in revenue and a debt mountain, swiftly followed by punchy cost inflation.
But the fog is starting to lift. Demand from holidaymakers has snapped back faster than capacity within the airline industry. For the British Airways owner, fares in the first six months of the year were up almost 10 per cent and capacity was back at 94 per cent of 2019 levels. By the end of the year, it reckons it can boost that number to 97 per cent. Revenue and pre-tax profits
