LONDON: British Airways owner IAG said it expected passenger capacity to grow to 85% of pre-pandemic levels and a return to profitability in 2022 after a collapse in 2021 capacity to just 36% of the 2019 level led to a 2.97 billion euro net loss.

It had warned in November that it was heading for a 2021 loss of about 3 billion euro, hurt by pandemic restrictions for most of the year, an improvement on 2020's 4.39 billion euro loss.

Kuwait Airways says to buy 31 Airbus jets in $6bn deal

IAG said it expected to report a significant quarterly operating loss in the first quarter of 2022 but to be profitable from the second quarter.