International Consolidated Airlines PLC, the owner of airlines British Airways and Iberia, posted losses of nearly €8bn in 2020 as Covid-19 restrictions cut passenger revenues by 75%.

The airline owner said the number of passenger flights during the year dropped to a third of 2019’s total and fell again to 27% in the final quarter of the year as more pandemic restrictions were imposed.

For the current quarter, IAG said it expects to be running at 20% of 2019 passenger capacity but given the uncertainty currently said even that estimate might change.

The one bright spot was cargo, said the airline owner, where revenues during the year rose by €200mln to €1.3bn.

Luis Gallego, chief executive, said: “Cargo helped to make long-haul passenger flights viable.

“In addition, we operated 4,003 cargo-only flights in the year,” he added.

Total revenues for the year reflected the absence of passenger flights and dropped 69% to €7.8bn which was almost matched by losses, which soared to €7.8bn and included one-off charges for fuel hedges and foreign exchange of €3bn.

At the operating level, there was a €10bn swing into a loss of €7.4bn against a profit of €2.6bn a year ago.

IAG added it has cash of €5.9bn at the year-end and with other sources of funds including a UK export finance facility had liquidity of €10.3bn.