By Chelsey Dulaney

British Airways parent IAG led a selloff in European airline stocks, as flight disruption cascaded after the sudden closure of London's Heathrow Airport.

-- Shares of IAG, the parent of British Airways, fell 3% in London. British Airways was scheduled to fly approximately 341 flights into the major hub airport Friday, according to aviation data specialist Cirium.

-- Other airline stocks, including Air France-KLM, EasyJet, and Lufthansa, fell around 2%. The airport closure is expected to lead to days of disruptions.

Analysts were sizing up the potential financial hit to carriers early Friday. Citi analysts said airlines might not have to compensate passengers, because the closure-caused by a fire at a nearby power station-was out of their control. They must still provide food, water and possibly hotel accommodation, the analysts said.

In 2017, Heathrow was hit by an IT outage that disrupted flights for days. That cost British Airways GBP80 million, Citi said, equivalent to around $104 million, much of that due to compensation to travelers.

Another hit of that size wouldn't have a major impact on IAG's finances. The company reported GBP32 billion in revenue in 2024 and GBP2.7 billion in post-tax profit. But Citi analysts, "If the airport does not open overnight, the costs would increase proportionally."

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 21, 2025 05:33 ET (09:33 GMT)

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