People board a British Airways airplane, as Croatia struggles with more cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the airport in Split, Croatia August 20, 2020. LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Concise insights on global finance in the Covid-19 era. ------------------------------------------------- PENSION SHOT. After flogging the family art collection and in-flight silverware, British Airways is leaning on its pensioners for financial support. The carrier, part of 8 billion pound International Airlines Group, said on Monday it had reached a deal with trustees to defer pension payments worth 450 million pounds over 12 months. With prospects of a summer travel revival waning, IAG Chief Executive Luis Gallego will welcome any extra pennies he can find. IAG shareholders have less reason to rejoice: however quickly flights resume, the company’s biggest earner now won’t pay any dividends to its parent until at least 2024. That’s arguably a hefty price to pay for a relatively paltry sum. The deferment amounts to only 2% of IAG’s annual operating costs before the pandemic, saving just 1.2 million pounds per day. In June, when British Airways auctioned art by luminaries like Damien Hirst and Bridget Riley, IAG was incinerating more than 20 times that. (By Ed Cropley) BREAKINGVIEWS Reuters Breakingviews is the world"s leading source of agenda-setting financial insight. As the Reuters brand for financial commentary, we dissect the big business and economic stories as they break around the world every day. A global team of about 30 correspondents in New York, London, Hong Kong and other major cities provides expert analysis in real time. Sign up for a free trial of our full service at https://www.breakingviews.com/trial and follow us on Twitter @Breakingviews and at www.breakingviews.com. All opinions expressed are those of the authors.