Airlines Take Hit as IAG Seeks to Raise Capital, KLM Cuts Jobs - Bloomberg

Airlines Take Hit as IAG Seeks to Raise Capital, KLM Cuts Jobs - Bloomberg:

Two of Europe’s biggest airlines ratcheted up their response to the coronavirus crisis, underscoring the depth of the downturn and the urgent race to keep ahead of the financial repercussions.

British Airways owner IAG SA set plans for 2.75 billion-euro ($3.3 billion) rights offering, while rival Air France-KLM’s Dutch arm said it would lop off 15% of its workforce and said will also resort to raising fresh equity. Both reported record quarterly losses on Friday, a measure of the strain on network carriers that have seen an unprecedented drop-off in traffic and still face months of pain.

“Anybody who believes this is a temporary crisis and thinks it can be resolved by temporary measures is misguided,” Willie Walsh, IAG’s outgoing chief executive officer, said on a conference call.

Shares of IAG traded 7.9% lower as of 11:43 a.m. in London, bringing the year-to-date loss to 73%. Air France-KLM was down 1.7% after announcing 5,000 job cuts, and has slumped 65% for the year.