The parent company of British Airways and Spanish flag-carrier Iberia has today reported a profit of €960 million ($1 billion USD) for the second quarter of the year – up €60 million on 2018. International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), is one of Europe’s largest airline groups and also owns Aer Lingus, as well as low-cost brands Vueling and LEVEL.
The peformance of the London and Madrid dual-registered airline group couldn’t be any more different than some of its biggest European rivals. Only yesterday, the Lufthansa Group reported a second-quarter loss of €116 million, while budget behemoth Ryanair recently announced a drop a 21% fall in profits to €243 million.
The Air France-KLM group has fared slightly better during the same period with a €54 million improvement in profits to €400 million, although that growth came largely from strikes that hit Air France last year.
“Despite fuel cost headwinds, we delivered a good performance. At constant currency, fuel unit costs were up 6.3 per cent while passenger unit revenue increased 1.1 per cent, benefitting from the timing of Easter,” explained IAG’s chief executive, Willie Walsh in a report released to the London Stock Exchange.
“This highlights, once again, that our unique structure and diverse brand portfolio underpins our financial resilience and ability to deliver robust results,” he continued.
Despite IAG’s strong 2nd quarter performance, the group is maintaining a more pessimistic outlook, forecasting full-year profits to be flat compared to 2018. The airline group says rising fuel costs, as well as currency conversions – especially the weak Pound for British Airways – will impact its finances for the rest of the year.
The top performers for the group were as follows:
- British Airways – €873 million
- Iberia – €109 million
- Aer Lingus – €78 million
- Vueling – €5 million
The LEVEL brand is still incorporated into Iberia.
