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* Sees full-yr profit 215 mln euros lower vs last year
* Pilot strikes to cost company 137 mln euros
* Booking trends in low-cost segments to be hit by 45 mln
euros
* Shares fall
(Adds details on outlook, executive comment)
By Tanishaa Nadkar
Sept 26 (Reuters) - British Airways owner IAG
warned on Thursday full-year operating pretax profit will be 215
million euros lower than last year, after major pilot strikes
grounded thousands of flights.
The strikes were the latest setback for the airline, which
in August suffered its third major computer failure in little
more than two years, disrupting flights in its peak travel
period.
The group also faces a record $230 million fine under tough
new data-protection rules after the theft of data from 500,000
customers from its website last year.
IAG said it expected the pilot strikes to cost the
company 137 million euros. The strikes on Sept. 9 and Sept 10 by
British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) members led to an
initial cancellation of 4,521 flights.
The group now expects full-year operating pretax profit will
be 215 million euros lower than the 3.49 billion euros ($3.82
billion) reported last year.
IAG shares were down 2.5% at 468.2 pence at 0717 GMT making
them the fourth biggest faller in the FTSE 100.
The airline, whose rivals include easyJet, Ryanair
and other low-cost airlines, also estimated booking
trends in its low-cost segments will be hit by 45 million euros.
British Airways pilots have cancelled a strike set for Sept.
27 to allow for talks. BA has offered its pilots an 11.5% pay
rise over three years.
"There have been no further talks between British Airways
and BALPA," the company said on Thursday. "Clearly any further
industrial action will additionally impact IAG's full year 2019
operating profit."
IAG also estimated a further 33 million euro impact because
of "threatened strikes" by Heathrow Airport employees.
The owner of Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling expects
passenger unit revenue to be slightly down on a constant
currency basis, with full-year capacity growth expected to be
about 4%, compared to 5% previously.
The profit warning comes nearly two months after IAG gave an
optimistic outlook from growing revenues in North America and an
easing in fuel cost growth.
In its statement on Thursday the company struck a more
cautious tone on the prospects for 2020.
"A number of airlines, the weaker ones are disappearing or
significantly reducing their capacity so at this stage we still
expect 2020 to be a growth year for us but the level of growth
that we will be pursuing will be lower than we had previously
guided," the company told analysts in a conference call.
($1 = 0.9130 euros)
(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar, Shashwat Awasthi and Aakash
Jagadeesh Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and Jane
Merriman)
