British Airways has agreed two financing deals worth £2.45 billion to help it ride out the pandemic.
BA has reached final agreement with banks for a £2 billion five-year loan partially guaranteed by UK Export Finance, a government credit agency. BA expects to receive the cash by the end of this week.
Stephen Gunning, chief financial officer of IAG, BA’s parent company, said the airline had secured another financial boost with an agreement to defer £450 million in pension deficit contributions between October 2020 and September 2021.
The airline will repay the deferred amount in monthly instalments from March 2023 using property assets as security.
BA said its current plan was to return to making payments of £37.5 million per month from October 2021 to the New Airways Pension Scheme, which opened in April 1984 and was closed to new joiners in 2003.