IAG shouldn’t be flying this low

So much for a fear of flying only afflicting the passengers. Investors look to be suffering from it too, at least to judge from those unwilling to travel with the British Airways owner IAG. Why the reluctance to clamber aboard?

The airline combine, which also owns Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, has just taxied in with better operating profits than for pre-Covid 2019: €3.51 billion v €3.25 billion. Last year, operating margins more than doubled to 11.9 per cent. Free cashflow hit €1.3 billion, and IAG also cut its borrowings by €3.9 billion. Capacity is almost back to pre-pandemic levels. And, after some forecast-beating figures, the IAG boss Luis Gallego could hardly sound more “optimistic”.

How did the market react? Shares down 3.6 per cent