British Airways, a subsidiary of International Airlines Group (IAG), suffered an estimated 50 million EUR hit to operating profit in the first quarter of 2025 following the one-day closure of London Heathrow Airport on 21 March.
The disruption came amid otherwise strong performance for IAG, which reported a notable rise in profit and revenue for the period.
The closure of the UK’s busiest airport had a notable impact on IAG’s financials, contributing to a 1% increase in group-wide non-fuel costs. British Airways, the airline most directly affected, saw its intra-European and domestic UK revenues suffer, with the Domestic segment recording a 4.5% year-on-year decline in unit revenue, and intra-European passenger load factors dropping by nearly three percentage points.
Despite the impact of Heathrow’s closure, IAG’s group revenue grew by 9.6% year-on-year to 7.04 billion EUR, and operating profit before exceptional items jumped to 198 million EUR, up from 68 million EUR in the same period last year. After-tax profit rose to 176 million EUR, compared to a 4 million EUR loss in Q1 2024.
Luis Gallego, Chief Executive Officer of IAG said:Our strong first quarter results reflect the performance of our businesses and the effectiveness of our strategy and transformation.
We continue to see resilient demand for air travel across all our markets, particularly in the premium cabins and despite the
macroeconomic uncertainty.
Heathrow’s closure was attributed to operational disruption beyond the airline’s control. Such events, even if isolated, arguably underscore the vulnerability of hub-based carriers like British Airways to infrastructure interruptions.
The incident has led to an examination on whether Heathrow’s response was adequate and if alternative approaches could have minimised disruption.
